Breathe
by Like a boss 888
Summary: Whether he noticed or not, Zack has always used sex as a means to get what he wanted. It was nothing more than a game of power, manipulation and money to him. Then he meets Aerith, whose innocence starkly contrasts his job at the HoneyBee Manor.
1. Slut

**I wrote this today on a whim after remember a fic I scanned a while ago. I'm not much of a reader these days (I blame The Old Man and the sea. Sucked the fun right out of reading) so I didn't really read it. But what I saw was a really well written fic with a really interesting idea. So I blatantly copied the plot haha It was called 'Border of Taboo' and was ZackxAeris**

**So huur is my interpretation of the plot idea. This is the first time I've written a story in third person, so it kind of sucks balls. But I appreciate it if you read it and I'd love a review.**

"I'd been thirteen when I left Gongaga. I was sick of living the same monotonous life, sick of seeing the same sights everyday. I decided, on a whim, that I was going to move to Midgar. I was going to make it in SOLDIER.

"Gongaga had nothing to offer me. Even as a thirteen year old I could see the town rotting away, full of stupid girls who knew too much for their age and boys that solved issues with fists. Parents just didn't care anymore after the reactor blew. They figured that they're was nothing left to Gongaga. And they were right, there wasn't. The reactor, which became a doubled edge sword of work and grief, ironically developed into the towns main source of income after it blew. Shinra Electric Power Company reimbursed us after the accident because it had taken so many lives, but it was just money. So many fathers and brothers and sons had died and the damage had been done.

"But Shinra had switched their eyes from Mako to precious metal and hundreds of mining jobs subsequently appeared. People hated Shinra, but people needed food.

"There was no youth, only the disfigured mess that was my generation. Kids were having sex and kids were dying in mines and kids were fighting and full of rage. The adults gave up on us. People stopped having babies and stopped getting married. The town just ceased to grow.

"I hated it. I hated living amongst the grief. I hated the fucking dilapidated town with its repulsive adults and broken youth. I wanted out."

Zack paused for the first time and looked up at the man in front of him. The SOLDIER smiled, a friendly, genial smile, before leaning back into a gaudy gold and maroon armchair. But the man, Don Corneo, was not looking at Zack's face. His eyes instead were trailing up Zack's exposed arms, raking over the tanned, muscled flesh like Zack was some kind of feast. Zack's smile widened. He wasn't the most clever boy in the world, but he could tell when he was being appreciated.

"So," He crossed his arms, revealing just how defined his biceps really were. "I left and wound up in Midgar. I signed my life away to Shinra and was lucky enough to live up on the plate. It was everything that I thought it would be. It was hi-tech and beautiful and breathtaking."

"Isn't your family worried about you?"

"Its weird, I guess, but I don't really think much about my life before Midgar. I wrote my folks once, but they never got back to me. I figure that if they wouldn't bother to reach out to me, I wouldn't bother to think about them. I guess it worked out for the best because once I gave up on my old life, I was able to concentrate on becoming a first class SOLDIER. I'm a third class now, but . . ." Zack trailed off.

The Pimp smiled, a toothy smirk interrupted by flecks of gold and silver, and dragged his eyes to meet Zack's, almost painfully. "But it doesn't pay the bills."

"Well, the housings free but I get what you mean. No, it doesn't."

"And that's where I come in."

"Yeah."

"Looks like the little Shinra lap dog has come crying to the Don. So, what, you need a job as my body guard? You wanna be security?" He asked haughtily.

"No . . . not exactly." Zack replied nonchalantly.

"Alright, I'm listening," The Don leaned forward, placing his elbows in the dark desk and clasping his hands together.

"I want to work at Honey Bee Manor"

"As . . . ?"

Zack grinned, "As a prostitute"

"I'm afraid we aren't interested in men. Especially not young boys like yourself." The Don answered without thought. He frowned, though, as his eyes trailed the length of Zack's body. "Although you are quite the specimen."

"I'm not young, I'm eighteen." Zack defended, disregarding the Don's flattery.

"No, you aren't"

A pause.

"Fine, I'm not, but what does that matter?"

"Shinra is breathing down my back as it is. I can't have a kid working here as a prostitute and especially not a kid as affiliated with Shinra as you are.

"I need a job"

"So do I."

"Please." Zack begged.

"My body guard will show you out. It's a real shame, but goodbye."

The Don stood and began to walk towards the large, crimson double doors that let to the upper hallway. Just as his pudgy hand reached for the handle, Zack stood.

"I lost my virginity when I was nine."

Don Corneo turned towards Zack, caught of guard by his odd statement. He dropped his hand. "What?"

Zack strode towards the portly Don, placing a stern hand on the door. His lengthy body was more than a foot taller than the Don's. He looked down, his eyes pleading.

"I know how to please a woman. I'll . . . I'll do anything you want." Zack was getting desperate.

Don Corneo scoffed, "I don't doubt you have those little, inexperienced slum skanks squealing when you're inside them. But," He paused to pick a ball of lint off of Zack's shirt. "Women aren't my target audience."

"If you hire me, I can promise Women will come." Zack stared intently down at the short man, his eyes pleading. "I live on the plate, I see how sex is just as important to women as it is to men. I know that women crave affection. They're vain, they want someone to love them and tell them they're beautiful. So many women have busy husbands that don't have time to be with them, so many of them are lonely."

"You seem to be well educated on Midgar women."

"I just give the women what they want, and they give me what I want." Zack said matter of factly. He straightened, shrugging. "I'll be doing the same thing here, only now I'll be making money."

"You _slut_."

Zack answered with a cocky smirk. "Sex is easy, meaningless. Nothing but a mindless sport to occupy the time of wealthy businessmen and lonely wives."

"And apparently young SOLDIERS" The Don chimed in.

"And short, fat men."

Surprisingly, the Don laughed. "I like you kid. You've got spunk." Zack dropped his hand from the door and smiled, hesitantly. "Alright, you're hired. But I better not be hiring you for nothing, I better be making some money."

"You wont regret it." Zack said excitedly, his eyes wide. The Don opened the door and motioned for Zack to leave.

"Be here tomorrow at eleven. Don't tell anyone, especially not anyone from Shinra."

Zack was still smiling wildly as he left.

Seeing this young boy so excited about something as adult as sex sent a rare twinge of guilt through Corneo's stone heart. He was just a lad who should be worrying about his first time, not a job at a brothel. This boy, you could plainly see, saw no emotion with sex. He was toying with women, manipulating them to do what he wanted. What saddened him most though, was that this boy really didn't think that their was anything to sex but the action itself. Even Don Corneo knew the joy of love behind sex. He stepped out of his office.

"Wait."

Zack stopped and turned, his face full of confusion.

"I don't usually care about the personal lives of my employees, but I need to know something."

He ran a hand through his greasy hair.

"Have you ever loved a woman?"

Zack laughed, as if what the Don said was supposed to be a joke.

"I'm serious."

Zack slowly stopped smiling. No, he hadn't been in love before. He knew the act well, but not the feeling. But it wasn't like he was missing much, right? His friends did nothing but complain about their girlfriends and how much their girls want from them. There's no point in taking the good _and_ the bad when you can just have the good.

Zack backed away from the Don and continued walking towards the balcony staircase. He stuck his thumbs in his pockets and turned his head, slightly, back at Don Corneo. He smirked.

"Why make love when you can fuck?"


	2. Sky Blue Eyes

Aerith was a small girl, thin and beautiful. She lived in the slums with her adopted mother, Elmyra, and took care of many of the orphaned children. She was sweet and well spoken; a mans dream girl.

But Aerith wasn't interested in men, and the men in the slums didn't seem that interested in her. They thought she was odd, and maybe they were right. Maybe she was a little weird, or at least weird for slum standards. The slums were filled with barely-legal girls who dripped with sex and self-loathing and Aerith was definitely a black sheep with her innocence.

She spent most of her time in an old dilapidated church on the edge of the city limits, tending flowers and watching over children. She was not alone, but at times she felt that way. She didn't have any friends her age that she could confide in. Children wouldn't understand what she was thinking, and her mother would just become worried. Aerith was starting to question her past, and she wanted answers. The only person she could think of would be Tseng, a Turk whom she had known since she was a child. They weren't friends, but he knew things that Aerith thought she deserved to know.

She didn't want to talk to him. She could never decide if he was friend of foe. He would take her, willingly or unwillingly, away from her home in the slums a few times a year, asking her questions about things that she didn't know the answers to. She could ask him questions, but he was never liable to answer them. Every time they spoke he offered her a better life on the plate, all expenses paid. And Aerith would decline, her pride too strong to take such an offer. He would bring her home, apologize, say that it wasn't up to him. Say that she was special. But then he would come back and take her hostage again, bind her, gag her, and force her to answer things that she still did not know.

So that left Aerith pretty much alone in the world. She wasn't sure who she could trust. She wasn't really even sure who she was. Her life was so fucked up that she chose just not to think about it. She would just tend the flowers and watch the children. Go home. Repeat.

She wanted something more out of life, but was afraid of what would happened when she learned the truth about her past. She was torn between wanting desperately to find out and wanting to live in secret forever, hiding behind lies.

* * *

It was a sunny, beautiful day, or so she guessed. She had never seen a clear, blue sky before, only the black mess that hung over Midgar like a wet blanket. But that didn't stop her from thinking that maybe the sun shone brightly somewhere. She smiled. You get used to perpetual darkness when you live in Midgar.

She straightened, brushing the dirt from her dress. She was in the garden next her house watering the plants that only seemed to grow where she tended them. The walked down the stone steps, placing the watering can next to the well on her walk down. Her mother was just outside of the house in the doorway, waiting for Aerith as she walked by.

"Are you leaving now Aerith?" Elmyra, a small, older woman handed Aerith a brown package. "Would you mind bringing this to the item shop? Mr. Stonem let me borrow his tools to fix the kitchen table."

Aerith smiled her usual smile. "Of course I'll bring it. I'll leave right now."

She waved goodbye to her mother and headed the short distance to the item shop. She wasn't fond of going to the market, but would do anything for her mom. The slum market was a despicable place, or at least It was in her opinion. It was packed with filthy people, most of them thieves or homeless men. People loitered around and screamed at shopkeepers. There were fights and theft and running children. The people at the market were the scum of Midgar, the dirt of Gaia. It was disgusting.

And today was Sunday, they day that everyone wandered down here to gossip and take advantage of sales. It would be more than packed.

Aerith entered the bazaar and was immediately hit with the stench of despair. She was shoved into the mass of people, pushed and groped every which direction. She held onto the package tightly and tried to wade through the bodies. An old man, greasy and foul smelling reached out lift up her dress, but she quickly slapped him away. She fought through and eventually managed to break free of the crowd, finding a rare open pocket.

And then she looked up.

A handsome. dark haired man turned towards her. He was very tall, so tall in fact that his head stuck out of the crowd. He should have been just another face in the sea of dirty people, but for some reason she could not pull her glance away. Aerith's heart caught in her throat as she looked at the beautiful man. His eyes, his crisp eyes reminded her of the sky that she would never see. He scanned the mob, looking right through her, as if he was searching for something. And that something was definitely not an innocent girl with a long, blue dress and a look of amazement.

And just like that, the dark haired man was gone, and with him went Aerith's heart.

The rest of the day for Aerith seemed like a dream. She delivered the package, tended the flowers and watched the children. But her mind was not there, her mind was on the strange boy that she had seen. She didn't know why she was so caught up on him, or why her heart almost seemed to ache.

But soon, like every small memory, he began to fade from her mind.


	3. Monster

** Haha I had to switch to first person. I honestly just could not make it sound right in third person. Did a little experiment to see if I'd be able to write a readable lemon. I was laughing while writing most of it, but what the hell at least I did it haha**

* * *

HoneyBee Manor was nearly as sleazy as people made it out to be. The girl's who worked there were not crack-whore prostitutes. They weren't riddled with track marks and eating disorders like so many people thought. They were just normal girls who needed money. Bad.

Most of the time the men who came in wanted company more than they wanted the sex anyway, so Zack didn't understand what the big deal was. Before he got his job, he thought that the workers at the Manor were trashy and expendable. But once he got to meet them, to really understand them, he learned that they each had identities, that they weren't all just one, sad face. He learned that they have dreams that reached beyond the gates of the Slums.

Zack became an older brother to all of the employees. He protected them, kept them safe from the dangers that sex and money brought. On more than one occasion he had had to beat the shit out of a customer for laying an unwanted hand on one of the women. He also learned about Women and their emotions, something that had previously meant very little to him.

Always polite, always charming; Zack loved women, and women loved him.

Ironically enough, his job at the brothel opened his eyes to the many emotions that came with sex. So many women came in who just wanted to pretend, if only for a few hours, that they had someone who loved them. They wanted romance and excitement in their boring plate lives. Zack liked making women happy.

**First Person**

I looked at the woman who sat uncomfortably in the soft bed. He hands lay in her lap, twisting and fidgeting into knots as she stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry, I just . . . "

I smiled down at her, "Its okay, I've got time."

After a full minute of silence I sat down on the bed next to her, softly, gently, as if not to startle her. I ran my thumb up her bare arm. She shivered, closing her eyes. Hesitantly, I leaned in towards her. She stiffened.

Okay. I backed off, but continued to run my thumb along her smooth arm. This was going to be a tough one.

"Do you have a husband?"

She gave a short, bitter laugh before turning towards me with a smile. "Is it that obvious?"

I smiled back at her with what I hoped was a look of understanding. "Believe me, you aren't the first."

I pulled my hand away and used it to brush her thick, blond locks out of her face, pinning them behind her ears. But before I could pull my hand away, her cheek was against it. Her eyes were still closed as she ran her face against the length of my hand. Maybe this wouldn't take as long as I thought.

"My husband, he works in Shinra." The nameless woman said. Her voice was very rich, sexy even. It didn't match her personality. But neither did her sultry looks. "He . . . well, he doesn't really come home anymore. I always assumed he was cheating on me, but when I found proof of that I freaked out. I . . . " She laughed softly.

"I stole his money and came here, determined to get 'revenge' on him. But its not really revenge when you have to pay someone to fuck you, huh?"

I pressed my lips gingerly against the hot skin of her cheek, the only form of comfort I could think of. "A jerk like that doesn't deserve a beautiful woman like you."

"I wish I was vain enough to believe you." She muttered dryly, "Truth is, looks are deceiving and beauty is meaningless. Your words are just words."

I was taken aback at how easily she dismissed me. I didn't really understand why she was mad (and was a little pissed that my flattery hadn't worked), so what did she expect me to say? Who cares if her husband cheated in her. Yeah, its definitely hurtful that he would choose someone else's body, but is it really that bad? Sex is just sex.

Her hand ran along her leg, her crimson nails leaving matching lines across her exposed thigh.

"I'm sorry, I was rude. I know you were just trying to help the situation," She gave me a small smile, her pouty red lips revealing brilliant teeth. "But sometimes you're told something so much it begins to lose meaning. It begins to harbor a different, almost anti-meaning. It begins to hurt when people say it to you."

I thought about what she said. Maybe she was right, maybe words without meaning and empty compliments did more damage than good. Maybe men, who thought they knew all the right things to make a girl sleep with them, were losing the advantage.

"Its just hard when someone always says how beautiful you are, always tells you how much they love you, ends being a fucking pile of shit, you know?" She shook her head. Her face was hot and I could feel the tears on my hand. My instinct was to do something, kiss her or hug her to make her feel better, but I wasn't sure how she'd react.

I could hear the tears in her voice. "Why do boys only want to hurt us?"

"Because we just want sex." I said, not really thinking.

...0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0...

"Your hands are so rough"

"I'm in SOLDIER" I replied automatically, for some reason wanting to tell her the truth. We were in the bathroom of the suite, the bath filled with warm water. We were both standing and my 'rough' hands were on her shoulders, pushing her dress down. I kissed her neck, eliciting a gentle moan from her lips.

She was facing me and looking surprisingly bashful. Her golden hair fell in gentle waves, framing her face, making her red lips stand out. She truly was pretty, even for an old trophy wife. She raised her hand to my face, and touched it gently, the first time she had touched me the whole night. I smiled down at her,

"Kiss me." She breathed.

I complied, pressing my lips to hers, hard. I opened my mouth and moved against her, my tongue running along hers. I bit her lip gently, I cupped her face in my hands.

She broke away, her breathing heavy. Her hands fell on my hips, under my shirt. She ran her fingers up my chest, pulling my shirt up with her hands. She stopped for a moment and her eyes fell on my chest.

"I guess it wasn't bullshit, you really are in SOLDIER."

I looked down, confused. She pointed to the deep scars that ran like rivers across my abdomen. I smiled almost proudly. "Yup."

"Well, little SOLDIER, you ready?"

She pushed against my chest, trying to press me against the wall with her delicate hands. I wasn't one to be pushed around, so I spun on my heels, pinning her to the wall. One of my hands had gathered her hands above her head in record time. My free hand rose to her face to stroke it gently.

"So, you like it rough?" I smirked, looking down at her.

She replied by running her thigh between my legs, making me loosen my grip on her hands. She pulled away quickly, and I pretended she was too fast for me. In all honesty I could have had her clothes off and be fucking her before she even got the chance to notice. But I was a gentleman. Besides, she was paying me to live out _her_ fantasy.

What made my job different from the other employees at the HoneyBee Manor was the difference between men and Women. Men came here looking for one thing: sex. They wanted excitement, they wanted the thrill of doing something different. They just wanted release. But women were so much different. They wanted something more from me. They wanted to pretend, dream, that maybe I was the love that they crave, that I was their their cheating husband. Or sometimes it was some other fantasy.

Both her her hands were at my waistband, her fingers gripping the fabric. She wretched me closer to her and fumbled with my belt.

Women who came, maybe a couple of them a week, were asked to fill out a form describing what they wanted. It was really explicit, and really personal. Male customers had to fill out of form stating that they didn't have and STD. I didn't really understand why the thought behind the action was so important to girls, but I guess I'm not really paid to understand. I am, after all, just a guy.

I pulled her dress off, ripping it in the process, but she didn't seem to care. She was was filthy rich, after all. Everyone who came here was. Her form had said that she liked the man to take charge. She liked to be pushed around. I wasn't really into rough sex, but it wasn't really my call.

I pressed her close, my hips grinding into her. She had unbuttoned my pants and they fell to the ground. I moaned, more for her sake then my own, as she ran her hands the length of my chest. She pinched my nipple. _Fuck._ _That hurt._ I pretended that I liked it. I shoved her against the wall, my hands on her shoulders.

She bit her bottom lip and looked at me through half-lidded eyes. Her eyelashes were immensely long and shrouded her bright, blue eyes. I looked closer and saw the glue that held them in place. They were fake. I studied her features for the first time since I had met her, I mean really studied them. Her skin seemed strangely pulled near her cheeks and forehead, and I realized that she had had a face lift, which was not an uncommon procedure for older women in Midgar. Well, _rich_ older women. I could see the brown beneath her colored contacts. My eyes drifted down towards her chest to look at her breasts, but it was obvious, even when she was clothed, that she had had implants. No natural woman had boobs _that_ perky. They were scarred with surgery marks. I thought that maybe this lady would be different, but I guess not.

Every woman who came to the HoneyBee had the unnatural beauty of a trophy wife. It was expected of them, even after their prime, to be hot.

"You like them?" She brought her hands to her chest and pushed on her bra. "You better. I payed good money for these."

"Love 'em" I lied, grasping her ball-shaped breasts with my hands. I removed her bra and took one of her breasts in my mouth. I ran my teeth along her nipple.

"mmm, I bet you do"

I shoved my hand into her lace underwear, pushing my fingers into her, causing her to moan and writhe against me. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her face brimming with what I had to assume was pleasure. I looked at her contorted face and almost wanted to laugh at how much it didn't suit her. But really, did it suit anyone?

I kissed her while my fingers built up a fast rhythm. My thumb ran against her clit and she came, almost instantly. I waited for her to finish, my mind forcing me to smile. Truth was, none of this really got to me anymore. There was no excitement when it came to sex. Sometimes I wonder how I even 'get it up' each time. There was no chase, no fun, it was 'oh hi, are you Zack? I'm your next appointment.' I felt like a babysitter and I felt dirty and everything just felt so . . . _wrong_.

She stopped groaning and jumped up, forcing me to catch her thighs with my hands.

"mmm fuck me hard - . . ." The woman trailed off and laughed. She opened her eyes and looked at me, grinning, stupid, "Sorry honey, I forgot your name"

It was then that something hit me. What the _fuck_ was I doing here?

I wasn't a fucking whore, I didn't even like sex that much so _why was I here, _Mindlessly fucking dried out widows and lonely businesswomen? I was part of SOLDIER. I was supposed to have honor and dignity.

I knew that I shouldn't have been angry, but the fact that she couldn't remember my name made me really think of how disposable I really was. I literally was just a body to them, and they were just money to me.

It was the first time in a long time that I actually felt seventeen. I felt angry and confused and sad. I didn't know which way I was going. I wanted to fucking scream, I wanted to just leave my body and go away.

"Zack," I muttered almost venomously, "My name's Zack"

She lifted an arm around my neck and I noticed how the skin hung on it. Toned muscled stuck out through withered skin, making her look older than she was. Her skin was freckled and sun damaged, probably after years of abuse. She wasn't unattractive, she was just _old_. Suddenly I was repulsed my the age different between us.

"Well, _Zack,_ you ready to blow my mind?"

I didn't answer her.

She ran her hand up my arm.

"What's your name?" I asked suddenly.

She made and upside down peace sign and used her fingers to walk up my arm like a miniature person, something I would have thought was cute if I hadn't been so spiteful. She smiled and looked up at me through her impossibly thick eyelashes.

"Now why would you want to know that, little SOLDIER?"

I didn't know what I wanted to know her name. Maybe I was angry that she knew almost everything about me, and yet I knew only her sexual preferences. No name, no personal information. It was anonymous.

I released my arms and let her fall gently to the ground. She looked up at me, confused. She opened her mouth, but I started before she could.

"I'm sorry. I . . . I feel sick." I lied, but it wasn't really far from the truth.

"W-what?" She muttered, collecting her self, "You were fine what happened?"

I pulled my pants back on and picked up her dress, handing it to her.

"Wait, you can't just leave! I know for a fact that SOLDIER's don't get sick!" She replied, baffled.

I opened the door to the bedroom and stepped out, seeing for the first time just how seedy the manor really was. The gold had worn off to reveal the gross underbelly of Midgar.

"I work at Shinra, I know what they do to SOLDIER's!" She nearly screamed.

I didn't turn around, I just walked over to the bed and found my shirt as her temper flared.

"You're a fucking MONSTER!"

I picked it up and put it on, slowly. I was done with this. I was done with fucking up my life.

I turned around, looking more sad than I probably wished too.

"Maybe I am."

**Can you tell I wrote this over the course of two nights? Haha what a fuckfest of a chapter. I promise that they'll start making sense.**


	4. Blue Dress

Zack forced his way through the packed slums, nudging people angrily out of his way. He was so impossibly confused. Everything in his life seemed so . . . just fucked up. He felt like a con-artist and he felt gross and sleazy. He wanted to get as far away from the HoneyBee Manor as he could.

So may things jumbled around in his brain. He felt lost and lonely and utterly powerless. This wasn't how any SOLDIER should ever have to feel. He, as long as he was the only SOLDIER in the area, was the most intelligent and powerful of all the people in the slums. He could get anything he wanted, by force or by manipulation, and yet nothing seemed worth it. It made him feel too different, too much on the line between human and monster.

Monster . . . did that term really relate to him? It scared him, but was it more truth in that statement than he feared? Zack knew that all SOLDIER's were infused with Mako to strengthen them, but Mako was just reformed energy. Shinra just reformed energy and ejected it into strong men through Mako therapy. Shinra creates SOLDIERS. Not monsters.

. . . Right?

Zack's head spun. He was exhausted from weeks without sleep, his days and nights occupied with work. He, amazingly enough, got no more than two hours of sleep nightly and yet there had been no decrease in his work ethic on either of his jobs. He trained just as hard and was even taking on extra missions. But now, once his drive faltered, he was crashing.

He stumbled, catching himself only barely before falling onto the muddy ground. It was a Sunday (or was it Saturday?) and the slum market was packed with people. He felt nauseous and weak, something so foreign to him since entering Shinra Corp, and yet so strangely familiar. He was dizzy, but it made him feel human. His hands ran along the tin walls of shacks as he tried to find an opening that led to some place less stifling.

It was midday, he guessed blindly. He looked up to the heavens, half-expecting to see the sun beating down, giving him the time of day. But he forgot that he was in the city the sun never reached, where looking up did nothing. He didn't sleep at all last night. He'd been wandering around the slums since he stormed out of the HoneyBee Manor the night (morning?) before. He hadn't checked in with Shinra yet today, but he just didn't care. Nothing mattered.

The world continued to spin as he wandered the crowded street, letting himself be pushed like a stone in a river. His eyes scanned the crowd, but for what he didn't really know. He was looking at people, he guessed. But no one really stood out. Normal people, strange people, poor people. They all seemed the same to him.

He felt weird and awkwardly out of place. He was too tall and too muscled and too tan to belong to Midgar. He felt alone, and he was. He looked out once again at the sea of dull people. But his eyes snagged momentarily on a young girl in a blue dress. His brain, although sluggish with fatigue, was still that of a SOLDIER and therefore could process on a level no human's could. In less than a second he knew that this girl was important.

His head dropped to the side, resting on his shoulder. His body throbbed. He was so tired. Zack brought his hand up to grasp his head. He pulled at his hair angrily trying to bring back alertness. Jerkily he moved through the slums, throwing his body to rest on the tin buildings at random intervals to try and stay conscious. His body was failing him.

Suddenly, he keeled over, feeling the urge to vomit. He gagged, heavily, but he had no food in his stomach to expel. He groaned, and his stomach clenched again. He was nearly crawling at this point. His eyes were closed, but he could tell that he was out of the crowd because the air, which was still stale, did not smell like hundreds of bodies. He inhaled, deeply, savoring the scent of flowers. _Wait, flowers?_ He was still in the slums, right?

He looked up, cracking an eye open, to see a small house in front of him. To the left of it was an immense garden full of flowers. Flowers, growing in a place without any sun? Zack was sure that he was in some kind of dream.

He dragged himself over to a patch of clover and fell into it. It felt so soft and cool on his face. He wanted to sleep. He was so tired. So impossibly tired.

A pair of black dress shoes appeared near his face. He didn't move, just smiled. He recognized the type of shoes the man wore immediately as the same type Shinra employees had to wear, specifically the Turks. He continued to grin deliriously.

"Yo."

"What are you doing here, SOLDIER?" A voice said, almost spitefully. The mans voice was deep and drawling, with the slightest hint of a Watanese accent. Zack didn't recognize it, but somehow knew that this man was his superior.

"Did the president send you here?" The man asked again, not waiting for Zack's reply. But Zack didn't reply, because it was then that he fell into a nearly unconscious state. He listened, but barely heard, as the Turk flipped open a phone and dialed the buttons.

"How dare they send SOLDIER's into sector 5. This is Turk territory." Came the barely audible whisper. Zack closed his eyes as his head faded into black.

**For anyone who's wonder, that's Tseng that Zack finds near Aerith's house. He was sent to look over Aerith before/during ffvii so he's pissed that the president sent over SOLDIER (or so he thinks). Tseng secretly has a lil crush in Aerith.**


	5. Mako

"You're lucky the director found you when he did." A woman in a pristine lab coat circled around him, tapping her pen on a notepad. She seemed preoccupied as she quickly flicked her gaze from patient to patient. She finally looked at him, and smiled, revealing gleaming veneers. She swept her curly locks onto one shoulder and tilted her head endearingly to the side. She was young and cute, and had been friends with Zack before she got her position at Shinra.

"Why didn't you contact Shinra at the first sign of Mako poisoning?" She asked, placing a hand on his forearm to check his IV.

"I . . . I didn't realize." Zack replied slowly. His head stilled throbbed. The doctored, Azline glanced down at her clipboard, frowning.

"Well, it says here that you've been doing exceptionally well on you're missions." Azline looked up at him, confused. "How is it that you've been fine up until a few hours ago?"

"I don't know." Zack confessed.

"You're body has done very well with Mako therapy in the past. There should be no reason for you to react so negatively as of late. Unless, of course, something psychologically jarring has happened, but that's impossible because Shinra would have been alerted."

Azline leaned in closer to him and he could smell the perfume that lingered on her bosom. "Zack . . ." She paused, "Is there something I need to know?"

Zack smiled. "No, I'm fine. I promise."

She looked at him oddly, "Because if you're keeping something from Shinra . . ." Her eyes became scared for a split second, as if she knew exactly what would happen, but she regained control and once again became stoic. "Mr. Fair, please be careful."

"Azaline, really I'm fine. Just a little pressured." he lied and began to rise from the gurney.

She stopped him with her outstretched hand, gently pushing on his chest, "if you are feeling pressure-"

"Yeah, I know," Zack interrupted, "I need to tell Shinra. I'm fine, everything's fine."

"Not quite. You need to go to psychoanalysis until your condition is stable. Its mandatory once a person has Mako poisoning, but it shouldn't take long. Until it's cleared up, I'm afraid that you're on leave."

Zack's mouth fell open. "Leave, as in fired?"

She laughed softly, "leave as in temporary. You'll be back in less then a week, its really just a precaution. Most SOLDIER's have to take leave at some point during their Mako therapy, it's just odd that you're getting sick at the end very end."

Zack fell back, relieved. He couldn't help the itching feeling that maybe the stress of two jobs and the lack of sleep had caused him to do this to himself. Azline had said something about 'mind jarring' situations. Could what happened the night before at the HoneyBee Manor have contributed? But he didn't have time to think about any of that. He was just glad that he could finally have a few good nights sleep for once.

But was it really over with Don Corneo? Wouldn't he and his thugs be after Zack? He had, after all, disrespected a patron and stormed out.

"Zack, you can leave now."

"Huh? Oh, thanks Azline." He got up and pulled the tubes that attached to his body. Blood and Mako squirted from the plastic for a second before they died down and fell limp. Azeline stood up swiftly. "Zack Strife by leave now I meant after I pulled the IV's from your limbs!"

He brushed the pinpricks of blood that were forming on his inner elbow away and shrugged, "haha, sorry I guess I have someplace I need to be."

She groaned and began to clean up the mess that the IV's had made (and continued to make) on the white floor. "Goddam Zack! Why do you need to be so impulsive?"

He shrugged, scratching his head. He knelt down and grabbed the sheet of the gurney to soak up the blood and spilled Mako that continued to drip from the bag. "Sorry."

**omg sorry wicked boring chapter. Didn't really explain much either haha**


	6. Flowers blooming in the slums

**Omg sorry guys for the long wait! I've been putting this chapter off because I had to make a decision; write it like the actual scene in crisis core, or make up something. Making it like the scene in crisis core would mean I would have to do a lot of boring writing explaining a scene that you've all probably seen and making it up would be lame. So I guess I'm gonna write it like it actually happened.**

**Side note: I haven't played crisis core for almost a year now, so my grasping of the story is a little shaky. I barely remember whats going on at this point in the game, and I'm too lazy/busy to replay it, so there's going to be some plot holes and loose ends. Just bear with me**

Zack was falling.

Months had gone by since he quit working at the Honeybee, but his life, instead of returning to normal, had collapsed in upon itself. The existence that he once knew was ripped from under him. Angeal had defected from SOLDIER, leaving Zack feeling more isolated than he ever had before in his life. Hollander was trying to create a superhuman life form made from something called 'Jenova', and Genesis and Angeal seemed to be at the center of his plans. A war was raging on what seemed like all fronts.

Angeal was gone, he could deal with that. But to have Angeal gone and working against Shinra...Zack didn't know what to make of that. He didn't understand why. If only someone would explain to him what was going on, maybe he could help. If only they would let him in . . .

He heard a voice – his mother's – scolding him as if he were a boy, "Tell me what happened."

"Mom?" He asked, confused, "I – I wanna help out a friend . . . But I don't know how I can do it . . ."

His mother's voice evaporated and was replaced with that of a young woman, "Hellllo . . . ?"

Zack tried to think past the throbbing in his head, "Mom?"

"Hello?" She repeated.

He groaned, soft enough to be a breath, "Heaven?" Zack cracked his eyes, painfully aware of the teen girl who was definitely not his mother.

He heard her laugh, a small lyrical sound that rang with irony. "Not quite." Zack sat up with a grunt as she motioned to their surroundings. "Church in the slums."

Zack lifted his eyes to meet hers. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at the young girl in front of him. She was stunning in an almost unattractive way, with huge emerald eyes that glistened in the artificial light that drenched Midgar. She was plain, with plain looks and plain clothes, but there was something about her that made Zack never want to pull his eyes away. There was something in the way that she looked at him that made his heart flutter for the first time in his life. That was it, he was dead. He must be dead.

"An Angel?"

She laughed, "No, I'm Aerith!"

Aerith turned to the sunlight streaming in and pointed, "You fell from the sky."

"Huh?"

"Scared me." She said, turning back towards him.

"So you saved me, huh?" Zack said, smiling his charming smile.

"Not really." She replied, undeterred. "'Hellllllo' was all I did."

Zack laughed, a forced gestured to hide his feelings about Angeal and the events that has just transpired. He got up but curling his legs in, and them kicking them out, the force landing him on his feet. Aerith looked impressed, but he hadn't really been thinking of her when he did it.

"Thank you so much, Aerith." He smiled, fully knowing how attractive he looked. By simply saying her name he was sending her heart into a flurry, let alone his penetrating eyes and genuine smile. He crossed his arms, showing his biceps. "I'm Zack" He stepped forward, "I have to repay you somehow . . ." He continued innocently.

She shook her head, looking down at her feet. "Don't worry about it."

"No, no . . ." Zack said as he pretended to think intently. He went on with this game for a seconds before thrusting a figure in the air, "aha" He turned sharply on his toes, feigning an idea. "Hey, how about one date?" He lifted his eyebrows slightly.

She stepped away shyly, still looking down, "What is that? Don't be silly . . ."

Zack slumped, defeated for one of the few times in his life. He couldn't believe that that didn't work. This girl was either really sharp, or really, really innocent. But he didn't think either of those types of girls existed in the slums. So who was she? He scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed, and started to walk towards the pews.

"Stop! Don't step on the flowers!" Zack stopped, mid stride and looked back, surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"Normally people are more careful with flowers." She scolded, sounding more like his mother with each syllable.

"Well, I guess I'm not normal then." Zack muttered, more to himself than to Aerith. "Oh," He started, just realizing what lay thriving in front of him. He crouched down on his hunched to see them better, "You don't see a lot of flowers growing in Midgar. They're like luxury items around her."

He continued to admire the yellow flowers as Aerith gestured to the patch. "They only grow here." She spun around as Zack straightened, "Although, I planted some by my house too!"

"If I were you, I'd sell them," Zack proposed, his inner desire for money speaking, "Midgar's full of flowers, your wallets full of money!"

She seemed to study his smiling face for a moment before replying. "I've never thought of it that way before."

Somehow, he had managed to coaxed her out of the church. He was charming, Aerith would admit, but there seemed to be something off about him, as if he wasn't all there. He seemed to be in a thinly veiled turmoil within himself, and that left Aerith on edge. She would admit, he was impossibly handsome. He was tall, and tan, and had the sweetest smile she had ever seen, but she couldn't help but feel wary. His eyes told her, almost pleaded with her not to trust him.

Zack had dragged her to one of the nicer sections of the slum market. The were perusing a small accessory shop when Zack touched her shoulder, a small gesture that left her body numb, and asked her to pick out a ribbon. She told him that she didn't have any money, but he laughed and told her that he was paying. A hair ribbon seemed out of the blue, but she was so infatuated at the moment that she didn't care. She looked around for a second before quickly making a decision.

"Okay . . . this one." She pointed to a lovely pink ribbon.

"Okay, I'll go buy it. I'll be right back." He said with a smile. She was so incredibly enamored by this man who actually seemed to have a brain and a heart.

She watched as he reached into his back pocket to retrieve his cash. Her eyes linger for too long on the overflowing amount of Gil that Zack held in his wallet. She thought of all of the things that she would rather be buying with that money other than a hair ribbon. She knew a boy that was dying, and a young girl that had been raped and needed money for an abortion. So many grisly things were happening around them at this very moment that almost made her sick to think she was buying a ribbon for her hair.

He trotted back to her with an identical ribbon to the one in the display case. He motioned for her to turn around and she complied. She felt his thick hands in her hair, and quivered when his wrist touched the back of her neck. He stopped for a split second, but it was too long of a pause to just brush off. He had felt her tremble at his touch. "Sorry, my hands must be cold." She laughed in agreement, but they both knew that it was summer, even in the climate controlled Midgar.

He finished tying the ribbon with a tug as Aerith swallowed her embarrassment.

"Hows that?" He asked, obviously proud of his work.

"Did you put it on right? Will it stay on?" She asked quietly.

"It should be fine." Zack replied, his hands resting at his hips. He cocked his head to the side, a small smile spreading on his lips. "Yeah, It looks great."

Aerith's face reddened as his eyes looked her innocently up and down, truly admiring her.

"Thank you Zack," She turned to him, and raised her eyes to meet his. She didn't know if this meant anything to him, but she wanted to convey how much his act of kindness meant to her. "I'll always wear it from now on" She said, and she meant it.


	7. Will I see you again?

The couple had been wandering the slums for a little over a half an hour when they found themselves at an old playground. A pair of dirty children flitted about, but neither Zack nor Aerith paid them any mind. Aerith had been in deep thought as they navigated through the play structures. This Zack fellow looked almost familiar too her . . . then it hit her. He was affiliated with the Turks. She had noticed that a small red ornament on Tseng's lapel matched the logo that Zack wore on his belt. She felt a dull anger build up inside of her.

"So," Aerith pressed slowly, "Ever meet any SOLDIER member's?"

"Maybe . . ." Zack answered hesitantly. He glanced at her guardedly, his eyes narrowing. She walked in front of him, careful not to look back at him. She had her suspicious, but had refused to humor them because of how much she liked Zack, but the varnish was starting to wash away. She remember his eyes urging her not to trust him, that he was danger, and suddenly she was scared. Was this another crony sent by Tseng to hurt her? She had dealt with SOLDIER's before, but not that looked like this man.

"Do you think that they're happy?" She asked quietly, almost a plea not to hurt her, as if making him feel guilty would stop him.

Zack stopped walking, "What do you mean?"

"Heroes to children . . . protectors of the peace . . ." Her voice shook with irony. She still was not looking at him. His eyes bore holes into her back. "But they're not normal . . ."

She thought for a second that she had gone too far, but continued, "They get some kind of special surgery . . ." She turned and flicked her eyes up to meet his, "Don't they?"

"So they say."

He was being vague, but she knew he was a SOLDIER. She could see It in his eyes, literally. They shone a vibrant, unnatural blue.

"Normal is best. I think so, at least. Those SOLDIER people are kind of . . . weird."

"They're . . . Weird, huh?" Zack mused.

She had been looking down again, but stared piercingly into his eyes, her voice rigid with seriousness, "They're scary."

She locked eyes with him, but he turned away. She continued, "They fight, and they love it."

Zack thought for a moment, leaving Aerith to believe she had overstepped her boundaries. She looked at him, and he looked genuinely sad. Aerith was ashamed that she could think that Zack was hired to hurt her.

"Actually, I'm with SOLDIER." Zack said, an edge on his voice.

"I'm sorry." Aerith apologized, really meaning it. Zack looked defeated, but he lifted a hand on his crossed arms as if to say 'it doesn't matter'. He shuffled around awkwardly, somewhat embarrassed that his feelings had been bruised. The hurt look on his face remained as Aerith edged forward.

"So pretty." Aerith breathed, just as Zack's eyes caught in the flickering green light.

"The face?" Zack joked.

Aerith laughed, "The eyes!"

"You like 'em?" Zack asked confidently, He sauntered towards her, crossing his arms. "Then take a closer look."

"Eyes infused with Mako energy," He said almost proudly, leaning in closer with every word. "A SOLDIER trademark"

She was so intent on staring at his beautiful eyes that she didn't know how close he was. He was leaned down so close that his breath tickled her nose. She flinched and quickly pushed him away reflexively. He laughed, almost relishing her discomfort.

"Color of the sky, right?"

She wouldn't know, but she nodded in agreement anyway. "And not scary at all."

"I'll admit it, things haven't been normal at all lately . . ." Zack opened up. He quickly changed the subject, realizing that he barely knew anything about Aerith. "What about you Aerith? How's your life going?"

She laughed and turned around, "Well, I was thinking it would be a normal day, but then suddenly, some guy fell out of the sky."

"That's not all that bad."

Aerith started to say something, but Zacks phone rang, interrupting her.

"Oh." He said, slightly surprised. He excused himself and flipped his phone open. He shared a short conversation with the person on the other side. Aerith wondered fleetingly if it was another woman, but dismissed the thought immediately. She was sure it wasn't from the tone of the voice, but even if it was she had no reason to be mad.

"On my way." He said in a deadly serious tone.

He flipped his phone closed and smiled up at her. "I'm sorry, but duty calls."

She gave him a somber look before replying, "Well, I guess I should be going then." She turned to leave, but stopped herself. Suddenly she remember the boy from the market all the Sundays ago, the man she had stopped to stare at. She realized that the person in front of her and the person from the marker were one in the same. She faced him.

"Will I . . . see you again?"

"Of course!" He assured her with a brilliant smile.

Aerith waited a moment before continuing with a small smile, "I hope that your friends okay, Zack."

"Huh?"

"You talk in your sleep." She said sheepishly

He chewed over the thought. "Yeah, it'll be fine. I know that now."

He looked up at her in surprised as if suddenly thinking of something. "Do you have a cellphone, Aerith?"

"Of course!" She said, trying to copy his priceless smile from before. She pulled up her skirt on one thigh as if reaching for something and Zack turned away for modesty's sake, to his astonishment. She unclipped her phone from the band that wrapped around her naked thigh. He skirt drifted back to its place by her knees and Zack whistled.

"That's one hell of a hiding spot."

She flashed him a look, "I live in a den of thieves, where do you expect me to put my valuables?"

He lifted his hands in feigned defeat.

"Just scan my phone." She said, thrusting her phone at him in embarrassment.

"Alright, Alright."

He took the phones and touched them together for a moment before giving her's back. He turned to jog away, but stopped.

"If you don't mind me asking Aerith, how did you get a cellphone?" Zack didn't mean to come off as condescending, but it really was unheard of of a slum resident to have something as valuable as a cellphone. Aerith look offended for a split second before becoming stoic. Tseng had given it to her to keep track of her.

"I don't know, maybe someone at Shinra knows." She answered more bitterly than she had intended.

"What?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"It doesn't matter." She smiled, shaking her head, "I should get going and so should you." And with that, she turned and began walking away. "Good bye Zack"

"Wait, Aerith call me later?"

She didn't turn around. "Why don't you call me?"

He smiled and back away, "Okay, I will!"


	8. Kiss me

**Thanks soooo much for the reviews guys! I started updating this again literally because someone reviewed it. So honestly, if you review this I will update within a week. Anyway, I've been watching some crisis core vids on youtube and I legit want to die. Holy tits that game is so impossibly sad. It almost makes me want to replay it, but I cannot put myself through that again haha**

**oh man I'm getting depressed just writing this. WHY? WHY!**

He never called.

But really, what did Aerith expect? He obviously had more important things to deal with at the moment. She knew that. But that didn't stop her from staring at her phone all day.

Aerith tried to stop herself from thinking about Zack. She was ashamed that such a short, chance encounter had created such a mess of her brain. She thought, fleetingly, about how little she must mean to this stranger, this Zack man. She didn't know him at all, and her hopes were too high. _Maybe this was different, maybe _he _was different, _she tried to tell herself. But she knew better.

People would always _want_ Aerith, but not the kind of want that she was comfortable with. Old men _wanted_ her body, and Shinra _wanted_ her flesh and blood. Mothers _wanted_ Aerith to watch their children and her own mother _wanted _her to be her perfect daughter. She was sick of people wanting her for the wrong reason. She wanted someone to want her for _her._

Zack . . . maybe he would be the first to really know her . . . maybe . . . No. She shook her head. He didn't call. He was just being nice to her . . . she was just an urchin from the slums. He didn't want anything to do with her, he was just being nice. Aerith touched the bow in her hair for the hundredth time that day. _He was just being nice . . ._

. . . But wouldn't nice be enough for her? She could deal with that, if that meant she could see his face. She thought almost frantically that she would do anything for him, if only he would ease her loneliness. He didn't have to care about her, he could just be hollowly nice to her.

_Stop it. _She told herself, _you deserve better than that. Don't lower yourself for a stupid boy._ But he wasn't a stupid boy to her. He was her world right now, however sad that may be. Without thinking she picked up her phone off the table and dialed the second (and last) contact on her phone. She waited less than a second before he answered.

"Aerith?" Came his cool voice. Wind roared (or maybe it wasn't wind . . .) in the background, making his voice fuzzy. "Listen, can I call you back later?"

"Oh, sure" Aerith replied slowly. Aerith heard a screech in the background, and suddenly it clicked. He was on a mission and she was being a pain in the ass by bothering him. That's why he didn't call her.

"I have some . . . company." He continued. She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Don't keep your guest waiting" Aerith replied, with only a hint of nervousness. She hung up without even saying goodbye. She was mortified that she seemed so desperate. He said he would call, she just hadn't waited long enough . . . although it was well past 10:00 at night. It didn't matter. None of if did. The only thing that mattered was that Zack might still be interested in her.

Downing the rest of her water in one gulp, Aerith made her way to her bedroom. It wasn't particularly late, but Aerith was feeling too restless to deal with her mother. She felt conflicted between wanting Zack, and pushing Zack away. She knew nothing about him, but he gave her the attention that she so craved. On the other hand, he worked for Shinra, and Shinra could not be trusted under any circumstances. So what was she supposed to do?

She opened the door to her small, plain room, and sighed at how very ordinary it was. If she was supposed to be this important, vital being to society, why did she feel so very uninteresting? She closed the door softly behind her and breathed in.

A small vanity was adjacent to the door, and she spent a moment looking at herself. She wore no makeup, and her hair was in a simple ponytail. She wasn't beautiful. Attractive, pretty even, but far from a beauty. At least in her eyes.

She took a moment to undress for the night, but stopped just as her dress lay at her feet. She had never really looked at herself while nude in the mirror. She had very small breasts, an insecurity of hers ever since she could remember, and a lot of times it just dampened her spirits to see herself so bare. _They're small . . . but have a nice shape to them_, she thought, trying to find at least one good thing about herself. She tore her eyes away and threw on an old t-shirt that had been Elmyra's husband's before he died.

Aerith remembered the day when she was younger, before she had learned to repress her ability, when she told her mother – Elmyra – that her husband had died. Aerith had felt his presence . . . heard his voice. She still did, from time to time, hear the voices of strange people, but somehow she managed to hide it so well that even she didn't know what was real anymore.

Thoughts tumbled around in her head and anxiety crept its way into her limbs. She tried never to think about her past, or of the time she spent at Shinra Headquarters with her mother, but the memories were beginning to bubble up. She held her breathe and bit her lip as she waited for the memories recede.

After a few moments they were gone, and all that was left was a hollow aching. She welcomed the feeling.

She was empty again. Zack didn't cross her mind again that night, and neither did her mother or Shinra. She thought of the flowers and the hope that they brought.

Her bed sat in the far corner near her window, beckoning her to collapse on top of it. She complied, and within moments she was drifting into a heavy slumber, unmarred by nightmares.

A knock on her window. Heart racing, Aerith awoke. Her head reflexively snapped towards her small digital clock. 1:43 am. _What the hell?_

She turned, slowly, almost as though she thought that if she moved slow enough, whatever enemy lurked on the other side of her window would be gone by the time she had moved. Cold sweat prickled at her neck as her eyes adjusted to the dark. A large shadow silhouetted against the glass. A scream rose in her throat, but stuck when she saw the figure motioning frantically for her to stop.

A familiar face pressed itself against the glass. Unnatural blue eyes glowed in the moonlight.

"Zack?" Aerith breathed. She glided to the window and unhatched it. Zack, who was balancing on his haunches on her windowsill reached a long leg into her room, followed by a lithe body. Aerith looked up at him, dumbfounded and confused.

"Sorry I never called back." He said genially. "It got really busy at . . . work" Zack furrowed his eyebrows, as if work didn't sound like the right name to him. He shook his head and straightened, but upon hitting his head on the low ceiling, continued to slightly crouch so he could fit in the room. He rubbed his head. "Ow . . .Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any food would you?"

"What . . . what are you doing here?" Aerith asked in a slow voice, wiping the sleep from her eyes and ignoring his request.

Zack frowned. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Aerith replied, a little too quickly for her liking. "I mean no, I-I'm just confused. Its two in the morning."

"Oh, Is it?" Zack asked, raising his eyebrows as if Aerith had just told him something as useless as the date. Aerith nodded, causing Zack to smile, "I guess you lose track of time when you're working hard."

Aerith wondered for a moment what exactly Zack had been 'working on'. She rubbed her eyes again and then wrapped her arms around herself. "Aren't you . . . tired? When do you sleep?"

He laughed, but Aerith didn't think anything she had said had been particularly funny. She was genuinely curious. "I don't. Ever since I started Mako therapy I've been running off like two hours a night."

Zack, as if suddenly realizing how bizarre the situation was, turned to her, his brows furrowed. "I didn't even realize that you were probably sleeping. I'm so used to being around insomniacs that it didn't even cross my mind . . ." He trailed off and looked down at her, his deep eyes conflicted.

Aerith yawned at that exact moment. They stood in the empty silence. Aerith felt his eyes on her, even in the pitch black. "What? Oh no, I'm just surprised. Its not that often I get male visitors entering through the window in the middle of the night." She said in a quiet voice. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do in a situation like this. This was the first man that had been in her room. She felt slightly uncomfortable, but was also just glad to see Zack. She wondered silently that maybe this was just a dream and she was still asleep. That would make much more sense.

"I just finished my mission and . . . Aerith I couldn't stop thinking about you." Zack blurted with a smile, but it was too dark for her to see. He had said that line to so many girls in his life, but this was the first time that he actually meant it. Aerith had been on his mind the whole day, even with everything that had been going on in Shinra.

She froze. This was definitely a dream.

Her heart was beating so fast. She could feel her pulse throbbing through her wrist as she crossed her arms. She swallowed, but her throat wouldn't move.

She could hear him shuffling along her floor. The springs in her mattress squealed as he sat down. She could see him better now, and watched, transfixed, as he ran a hand through his thick hair. "I'm sorry. You probably think I'm crazy. We barely know each other, but I found myself worrying about you all day." He laughed quietly to himself. But, as if urged on to fill the silence, he continued, "It's just . . . I had to see you."

"You . . . had to see . . . _me_?" Aerith whispered, finally able to speak. She couldn't even think.

"Well, yeah." He replied, slightly embarrassed to hear her confusion. She didn't say another word, only stood in the dark corner of her room. Silence hung in the room like a living, breathy entity. It deafened both of them, but for different reason. With every second that ticked by Zack felt more and more embarrassed at what he had just opened up to her. Aerith, on the other hand, was in shock. No man had ever said more than a few words to her, let alone open their heart to her.

Zack rose from the bed. "Hey, I'm sorry for bothering you. I guess I'll go now." He waited for her to say something, _anything_, to make him stay, but he was met again with silence. Gathering what dignity he had left and heading to the window, he turned one last time. "Aerith . . ."

She didn't move. She couldn't.

And with that, he turned back and slipped out into the darkness. A second went by. Then another.

She tried to collect her thoughts. Never before had she been at such a loss for words.

"Wait, Zack!" She whispered fiercely, racing to the window.

"Yes?" He swung around the window has if he had been waiting there, his face stopping a mere inches from hers. Aerith was startled as he emerged from darkness. Her breathing was labored as she tried to put into words what she was feeling. Her mind wrapped around the situation. He cares about her. He _actually_ cares about her.

Her emotions boiled inside of her, craving release. She stared into his eyes, trying to tell him everything that she was feeling through eye contact alone.

"I wanted to see you too. I waited by my phone, and when . . . when you didn't call I didn't know what to do I – I don't understand why I feel this way. I've only know you for so long . . ." As she said this his face edged closer to hers. She could make out the tiny freckles on his nose, the small lashes on his bottom lid. She could feel his breathing.

"I'm sorry I never called you." He whispered, his head cocked to one side, his focus on her lips. He flicked his eyes upward to meet hers, a silent question, before moving to close the gap between them.

Aerith, her face upturned, melted as his soft lips barely brushed against her own. Her world crashed in upon itself. She was reduced to a state of nothingness. Her mind was blank. Her body, her whole existence was numb except for _him._ He was a licking flame against her cold body. Everything that she had been unable to say, every feeling that he'd longed to express lay wrapped in that one single embrace.

"Aerith?" Her mother's voice called.

Zack pulled away from the gentle kiss suddenly and without warning, leaving Aerith feeling lost and dazed.

"Aerith who are you talking to?"

Aerith gave Zack a startled look before replying, "I was just having a nightmare. Don't worry."

They waited.

"Okay, Honey, I'm going downstairs anyway. I'll get you a glass of water."

Instead of arguing, Aerith just turned back to Zack, touching her fingertips to her lips and smiling whimsically. "I don't want you to leave."

"I don't want to go . . . but I have to. Besides, what would your mom think if she found me here?"

She shot him a pained look before reaching her hand up to close the window. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course." He smiled his Zack smile one last time before disappearing into the darkness

**ahhhh this chapter was all over the place. I tried to make it make sense, but I had trouble conveying the emotions and making it make sense. I hope it didn't seem too ooc. Thanks for reading!**


	9. Wake Up

**Its kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around a time line, but I'm trying to fit all the canon scenes of Zack and Aerith into this, although I doubt many people notice haha**

**I'm not trying to make Aerith sound like a drooling girl,I'm just trying to make her seem normal. I think every girl feels like that about certain guys in their lives, even if they don't really show it on the outside. I know when I like a guy I'm like JKFLDSJGFDHOLYSHITFUUUUCK when they talk to me, but its not like I act like that in person. I think its partly due to my over-descriptions of every single fucking thing that happens when I write haha**

Aerith awoke, to her disappointment.

She had been dreaming of wondrous things. Zack and her mother and the outside world and plants and _life._ She dreamed of things beyond the walls of Midgar. She dreamed of the sky and the sunrise and running water and the beach. Its was perfect.

Zack had kissed her.

Her heart rate accelerated again. _Zack_ had kissed _her._

Aerith had lived through more things than she wished to admit. When she was only 29 days old her father had been murdered. She was captured and tortured by Shinra. Her mother died protecting her. She could hear the earth speaking to her. And yet, at the age of fifteen, she felt like she had lived a full life not because of those things, but because she had kissed Zack. The simple act of him taking the time to _notice_ her had had such a profound effect on her, that everything else in her life seemed irrelevant.

A knock at the window.

Zack? Aerith smiled, wondering silently is this was their new way of communication. She slid from her bed and made her way quickly to the window. She could see Zack, his back to her. Excitement rushed through her veins as she wretched the window open, too caught up in her own fantasies to wonder why he was back so soon.

The smile slid from her face when she noticed that this man was thinner than Zack, with a short ponytail at the back of his head instead of a mess of spikes. She back away, stunned to find Tseng. But she was too slow. His hand shot into her room, locking onto her wrist, pulling her towards him.

"We know the SOLDIER was in your room last night."

Aerith's mouth fell open. She was still in shock, "W-what?"

Tseng leaned in closer to her, as if mocking her embrace with Zack the night before. His expression was its usual stoic, but Aerith thought she saw a flicker of hurt in the way his eyes burned into her. "We know."

Aerith ripped her arm away in defiance. "What I do is none of your business."

This seemed to be funny to Tseng, because his mouth curved up in the tiniest of smiles. "I would think you would know by now _cetra_," He said in his deep, monotone voice, "Everything you do is out business."

Stagnant air hung around them, devoid of any kind of breeze. It was early morning and Aerith could see the vague outline of sunlight from beyond the walls. It shone in the murky air like muted blood in a pool of water. Tseng pushed passed her and entered her room. She didn't bother fighting him. She could never stand against Shinra.

"Especially since your new distraction is owned by Shinra." He added thoughtfully. Aerith watched as Tseng walked purposefully through her room. No action was wasted. She could see his mind calculating behind those emotionless eyes as he scanned everything in her small bedroom, his eyes flicking from one object to the next. _What the fuck are you looking for?_ Aerith thought with all the spite in her heart.

She wanted more than anything to throw him out of her window. She wanted to watch him writhe in pain, to suffer. But she knew that she couldn't that. She had learned that the easiest way to deal with Tseng, or just Shinra in general, was to let them be. Most of the time, if you just let them get what they want, they'll leave without causing too much trouble.

She stood, unmoving, as he looked around. He had on white gloves; a new look for him. She watched as he lifted up her mattress, sifted through her laundry and pulled back her sheets, each action causing more rage to build inside of her. She bit her lip so hard that it bled. She didn't even notice.

"What do you expect to find in there?" She snapped suddenly after watching him poke around in her trashcan for over a minute.

"A condom." He replied, not even bothering to look up at her.

Aerith's face burned red. She was shocked.

"And why would you assume . . ."

"Because it's expected of Zack Fair." He said as if not even paying attention.

Aerith's heart sunk.

"Expected? What do you mean?" She asked, trying to hide the disgust that wavered her voice.

He looked up with a barely-there smirk, as if relishing Aerith's pained expression. "It seems as though Fair hasn't told you some things. Maybe you should ask around Wall Market? Or maybe Fair himself?"

Aerith wanted to cover her ears like a child. She would do anything to take back the words that Tseng had spoken. She watched, in horror, as Tseng pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He straightened and walked towards her, his shoes clicking against her woods floor with every step. Aerith's heart pounded in her chest. What was he going to show her?

She froze when he placed the paper in her her hand. She didn't even notice when he stepped out onto her windowsill. Her eyes were too focused on the folded paper. It was thick, like a photograph. She looked to him.

"I don't think you understand how important you and whatever offspring you may have are to the future of this world." Tseng said. The edge was gone from his voice, replaced with something like compassion, but Aerith didn't care. "We have to keep track of everything and _everyone_ that you do."

If she had looked up she would have seen the pain in his eyes. If she had listened she would have heard the hatred he spat when he said Zack Fair's name. If she had just thought of something other than Zack, she would have noticed his jealousy. But Aerith was infatuated, and didn't care about anything.

Aerith, heart throbbing out of her chest, flipped the paper over and examined the other half. It was a blank white. She had to open it, she had to look at the other side.

She swallowed and unfolded it.

It was a photo.

Aerith gasped as she stared at the face of her mother. She was standing next to a tall man in something of a laboratory. A small baby was cradled in her mother's arms. It was her, the baby was her. Aerith's attention was quickly drawn to the grey haired man next to her mother. She brushed her fingers against the crinkled gloss. _Father?_

A small note fell from between the two sides of the pictures. Carefully, Aerith picked it up off the ground.

_This belongs to you._

She raised her head to look at Tseng, but he was gone. She was touched by his humane action, but she couldn't help but feel enmity towards him from the things that he had told her about Zack.

Aerith looked at the picture one last time before placing on the table behind her.

Was Zack really what Tseng claimed he was? What would she find at Wall Market that was so bad? She had so many questions tumbling around in he head, none of which she particularly wanted answered.

She sat on her bed, her stomach sick. Apparently Zack was hiding something from her. But part of her never wanted to to know what, wanted to just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen. Aerith couldn't do that, because she owed it to herself to learn the truth, even if it did hurt.

She sat on her bed for the remainder of the day, not even bothering to go tend the flowers until late into the night.

**I'm actually starting to get into this story. I have so many things planned mwahahaha**

**Hey, I SEE YOU GUYS WHO DON'T REVIEW! Please, you don't understand how much reviews mean to me. I get so excited when I check my email, and I'm overjoyed when I see a new review. They make me want to write!**

**Reviews only take like a minute to write. You can say _anything_. Tell me what you didn't like about the chapter _I don't care._ Just write something because I know a lot of people read this and it's disappointing when they don't even take the time to give feedback.**

**Thanks to Happy-People for continuing to write reviews! I really appreciate them, they make my day! Thank you so much!**


	10. Encounter

**As you can blatantly tell, I'm not the best with grammar. I make shit up and use words incorrectly and spell everything wrong. I just don't have the time or energy to reread shit a billion times. So if anyone's interested in being my personal spell checker, that would be amazing. Just send me your email and we can get crackin.**

The next day Zack showed up at the Sector 5 church. It took him no more than a feeling to realize Aerith wasn't there. But he wanted, no, _needed_ to see her. He waited until he could wait no longer, called away by Shinra to do their bidding. He was required to work at least three missions per day, and he was already late.

With pain in his eyes, he took one last agonizing look back at the church before turning, slowly, on his heels. He could _smell _her for fucks sake. He could see her, in his mind, kneeling by the flowers. He could just _feel_ her presence all around him. But it was dull. She was not there.

He went through the rest of his day as any normal day, all the while staying a close range to the church. Every few hours he would come back though, and check for Aerith, waiting impatiently for her to return. He wanted to believe that if he wished her there hard enough, she would show.

But morning turned to afternoon, and afternoon to evening. Still no sign of Aerith. He wondered again if he should show up at her house, but something told him not to. He was already being too forward, he had to wait for her to show interest. A game can't be played with one player, right? That's no fun.

Shit.

He was starting to revert back to his hard pressed ways. This wasn't a game and this was no casual fling. This was about _Aerith_. This was the girl he had spent the last two days fixated on.

He felt like a virgin all over again. He had no idea how to act on the feelings he had for her. Hell, Zack had no idea what those feelings even were. He felt lost for a second.

He was consumed in thought as Aerith approached him.

"Zack?"

He could see her perfectly in the inky darkness, his eyes well adjusted to the black. She looked puzzled, conflicted, but her barely noticed her expression. He was drinking her in. A whole day had been too long to go without seeing her. Everything looked new and refreshing. Every hair on her head seemed to glow with life.

"Aerith." He breathed, smiling broadly. She walked towards him almost mechanically. She made her way up the church steps, still hesitant and unsure, but still quick.

"I-" She started to say, but his arms wrapped around her in a smothering hug. She was going to ask him what Tseng had meant. She was going to ask him about Wall Market. But, as her face pressed against his hard chest, she began to forget the pain. She didn't care about anything but the moment. Her senses were drowning in Zack. _He would never hurt her._

Tseng had lied to her in the past, and he would lie to her again.

She was pressed so closely to Zack, and he was holding on so tightly to her. They clung to each other, desperately. She was on her toes, reaching up to wrap around his neck, but he was so tall that she could barely clasp her hands around. And then he was lifting her and pressing his forehead into the crook of her neck and, without thinking, her legs curled up on either side of his body, as if she were trying to climb her way up his immense frame.

His SOLDIER uniform was made of soft, ribbed wool, and she pressed her face against it. She breathed in. His smell was indescribable in its uniqueness. It was like nothing she had been exposed to. He smelled like salt, and water and air and _life_. She ran her cheek along his chest and took in the intoxicating musk.

Her hands were running through his black hair, gently tugging to pull him closer. His lips were at her neck, but they didn't touch against her flesh, they just hovered there, suspended. He was breathing though, heavily, tickling her ear with whispers.

He laughed quietly, but she could hear and feel it. She let go of him and fell, softly, to the ground. He was still smiling and she looked away, mortified that she hadn't controlled herself. She wanted him so fucking bad _and he knew it._

"That was nice." He said, sounding somewhat dazed.

Aerith just looked down at her feet. She was still so closed to him, making her head feel numb and her heart hurt more with each throb. He reached out casually and took her hand in his by just barely brushing his fingers to hers. He grasped her hand gingerly, rolling it over in his worn palm, as if examining it. It looked like a doll's porcelain hand, in size and in texture, against Zack's tan skin.

He looked up, meeting eyes with her, the ghost of the smile still lingering on his face quickly replaced with concern. "Why aren't you at home. It's dark out. Do you know how dangerous -"

"I live here Zack. I know what happens to girls at night. But I didn't come earlier today and I owe it to the flowers to water them because they _will_ die without me." Aerith was fervent, but retained her soft, gentle voice.

Zack shook his head and moved closer to her, "As long as I get to see you."

"Well . . . here I am." She murmured. He ran his hand along her jaw, but she ducked under his arm and trotted backwards with a sly smile, "I have work to do. Are you going to help or not?"

"Of course."


	11. Let Go

**Short chapter. Sort a cliff hanger, I guess. And by cliff hanger I mean 'I have too many things to do and don't need this open document staring at me'**

He can't keep his eyes off her as they work, and she can tell. His gaze is like water on her back, pushing against her, drowning her until she is forced to turn and look, if only to save herself.

He smiles, but keeps his focus steady, his eyes locked to hers. He refuses to turn away and continues to watch intently. _He's good at everything_, she though as she watched him pull weeds from the deep earth, gently enough to make her mother shed a tear, careful enough to leave every petal unbruised, and yet strongly enough to make her admire the ease he did it with.

After hand watering the flowers, Aerith decided to start weeding, half because she wanted to stay with Zack longer, and half because it really needed to be done. Zack didn't seem to notice, and, in fact, seemed to enjoy the simple work.

"I'm from a rural town," Zack was saying, "So I'm kind of used to all this manual labor."

"Yeah," Aerith started, "I can tell. You seem pretty comfortable."

She had her hands in the fertile earth, but paused for a moment to wipe her forehead. She went to get her phone, but realized she had left it at her home.

"Zack, what time is it?"

He flipped open his phone (how she loved when he did that!) and read the LED screen. His face was tinted aqua blue as the light illuminated the church. "Quarter to one." He said simply.

Aerith looked up at the hole in the church, but it was too dark. Only the ghostly street lights dripped down from the plate, but they were so far up that they provided no illumination.

"My mother thinks I'm asleep right now." She said whimsically. She turned to Zack, suddenly, as if realizing something. "Zack, where is your mother?"

"My mother?" He mused with a smile. Zack leaned back on his palms, keeping his legs crossed. "I didn't want to get her involved. It's just me in this big, bright city."

"You must have been terrified leaving home." Aerith was sitting in the stream of pale light that fell from the broken plate above. The very same halo of light Zack had fallen through only days before.

"Yeah, I was." He confided uncharacteristically quietly. "I left Gongaga when I was just a stupid kid. It was . . . lonely. No one cares about young kids here in the Midgar slums"

"You lived in the slums?" Aerith asked with a yawn. Not from boredom, but from sheer exhaustion. Sensing her tiredness, Zack gave her the abridged version.

"Yeah, I made some money selling scrap metal and weaseled my way into the SOLDIER training camp. I didn't live there – here, sorry – long."

Zack straightened and edged his way closer to Aerith. She nearly fell onto his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did. He was about to pick up her near sleeping body when she stopped him. "Please, Zack, don't."

He relaxed his arms. "huh?"

"Don't - " She yawn again, this time longer, "Bring me home. I want to stay out here and be with the flowers . . ." She buried her face in his strong, solid shoulder. "And with you."

He smiled, more to himself than anything, and tightened his grip on her. "I'm going to try get more comfortable, okay Aerith?" Zack asked slowly, as if speaking to a child. He felt her nod.

Zack edged closer to a moss covered pew, and leaned back. The wood was soft with age, and made a pretty comfortable back rest with the moss covering it. He was content with just sitting there, watching Aerith sleep in peace and stroking her hair, but just as he got comfortable, Aerith seemed to awake with a wave of alertness.

She was in the notch of his legs, her head resting firmly against his chest. Her legs draped over one of Zack's thighs. He had his head back and pointing towards the sky (if there had been one to point at). Aerith's doe eyes looked up at him, and he turned down just as she went to kiss him. His lips fell on hers, hard, even harder than either of them had expected because a small laceration on Aerith's bottom lip began to swell with blood.

"Oh – Aerith, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Zack whispered, rocked by the blood on her lips. She started to turn away, painfully embarrassed, but Zack took her chin in his hand and turned it carefully back towards him. She looked everywhere but into his eyes, but when they did meet Zack was smiling. An apologetic and understanding sort of smile, with his brows furrowed.

Zack pulled her closer, barely hesitating before running his wet tongue along her lip, clearing the minimal blood that was there. His mouth was open in the most delicious of ways, and his eyes, his bright eyes, stayed locked with her own, but shrouded with thick lashes as he looked down. Aerith was an inferno of emotions under her frozen state. Fire ebbed at her belly.

"SOLDIER saliva is a natural coagulant." Zack explained after pulling away. But Aerith was not done.

She reached up and pulled his face down to her level, this time sure that he knew what she wanted. Turning her head to the side, she leaned in, pressing her bruised mouth to his, hard. He gathered her in his arms as if acting on instinct.

Aerith was trying with all her might to stay in control, but Zack's heady scent was overwhelming her. His mouth was moving against her in the most spectacular ways, his tongue just barely brushing her lips with every new kiss. She tried with all her might to get closer to him, to feel his mouth fully on hers, but it was like he was teasing her.

She was wrapped around him. Her hands were in his hair for the second time that night, only this time they were moving with passion and purpose, rougher, more aggressive. She tugged at his hair and he replied by sliding his tongue into her mouth. She relished the slick muscle and the wonderful things that Zack did with it. The way he moved was without effort. He we leaning so hard into her, pushing her back with every new press of his mouth. She tried to keep up, but this was only her second kiss.

His kisses began to slow and become less draw out as he noticed Aerith struggling for breath. As much as he didn't want to, he finally gave her one last, slow peck before retreating from her red lips. Their foreheads were anchored together, and Aerith was wrapped inside of him, his bent legs creating walls around her. He could feel her round breasts brushing against his upper abdominal every time she took a breath, causing his whole body to go rigid.

Zack wrapped his arms around her, too restless to just sit and watch her try to calm herself. He lowered his head to her shoulder, totally enveloping her. He inhaled, catching the smell of her shampooed hair and resting his cheek on her bare shoulder. He ran his lips along her earlobe, really for no reason other than to do _something_ and he was surprised to hear the most beautiful sound. She moaned, an incredibly endearing and soft sound, directly into his hear. He almost didn't recognize the gesture, after so many years of rough, forced grunts from other women.

He licked her lobe again, and, unsurprisingly, elicited another sound. She gave a small push against him and he pulled away.

"Whats wrong?" He murmured into her hair.

"That's embarrassing . . ." She answered shyly.

"It's beautiful."

Aerith's face was red, but anyone looking could see that it was more from the heat of the kiss than her own embarrassment.

"Why are you so perfect?" She asked him, barely audibly.

He didn't answer with words, but instead brought his lips down to hers and continued to ravish her with his mouth. If Zack had any doubt in his mind that she was still a virgin, it was gone after that. She just looked so helpless and lost. He wanted to show her how great these kind of things could be, but he also didn't want to be the one to expose her. She should make her own decisions.

He was slow and sentimental with his kisses, making sure each one counted. They hadn't moved much since they began, and had really only been twisting and contorting their upper bodies. Aerith was the first to move, sore from her butt being on the hardwood floor. As she was repositioning herself, her thigh brushed slowly against something hard. She broke her face away from Zack's and looked down.

A curved bulge was protruding from between Zack's legs. Aerith's heart began beating erratically. She had never seen, let alone felt an erection before, and fear clung at her throat. As she looked up at Zack she must have seemed terrified because he gave her a lopsided, reassuring smile.

"Sorry . . ." Not an ounce of shame or embarrassment, just eye contact. He licked his lips quickly, but Aerith was mesmerized. She wanted him. She wanted to touch him more than anything. But she felt so lost. She felt like she was drowning in an ocean.


	12. Turmoil

**Thank you so much for the reviews guys! I read them when I'm in math usually (haha I obviously have nothing better to do) and it really brightens up my day. I love getting them and hearing what you guys have to say. To everyone who I can't thank personally (Happy-people, Rin, Ladyfa****ff****alo****t, ****MyChemicalFantasy16, ****Shroud of the Shylands**** and Brinster) Thank you so much! I appreciate every single review I get! **

**On a side note, I should be writing this essay thing about To Kill a Mockingbird right now, but wheres the fun in that? I'm a junior in high school and I still have trouble getting my homework done...college is gonna be a breeze ammirite?**

Zack watch intently as Aerith sat, frozen. She looked mortified and terrified at the same time. He didn't know what to do. He _wanted_ to continue more than anything in the world, but he knew Aerith wasn't ready. He could tell in the way she kept swallowing that she was trying to keep down the lump in her throat. Painfully, achingly, he decided to stop this.

"Aerith," He started gently, "Its getting late."

Her eyes were downcast for a second, looking off to the side. "yeah."

"Hey . . ." He touched his hand to her chin and moved it slowly to face him. "We'll see each other soon."

She looked at him, smiling slightly. She felt stupid and naïve, but managed to swallow her pride. "I hope so. But your . . . right, I should be getting home." She could sense that he had stopped because of her, and that made her feel horrible. She was having such an extraordinary time, why did it have to get tarnished? Why did things always have to change so fast? And why was she always so behind?

A pregnant pause. Neither of them moved.

"So," Zack started, trying to be gentle, "You've never . . ."

"What? Oh – umm" Aerith brushed a curl behind her ear as she felt her face go hot, "No I've never . . . I mean I haven't even kissed a guy before you."

"Oh yeah? Coulda fooled me." He remarked with a lopsided smile.

She laughed, but her heart wasn't in it. Something felt off and she couldn't place it.

"No, really. Your lips are so . . ." His voice was a feather on her jaw, his head cocked to one side, "Soft." He stole another slow and short-lived kiss. Aerith barely could reciprocate as she tried to remember what was so important . . .

Tseng.

She pulled away quickly.

Zack looked at her, confused. "What's wrong?"

Something in the way that Zack acted proved to her that Tseng had been telling the truth, whatever that truth was.

They lived in kill or be killed world, and Aerith had been trained to trust no one. It seemed like everyone she met had ulterior motives, so why should Zack be any different? Inside, deep in her heart, she could feel that Zack was a good person, but her guard didn't not want to come down. Her shields were up again.

But then again, Tseng could be lying . . . he always had ulterior motives. Nothing he did was without benefit to himself.

"If I did something wrong . . ."

Aerith, the enmity-on-the-inside type of girl, shook her head fiercely. "I'm just . . . tired."

Zack gave her a look, seeing through her weak bluff, but dropped it. He could feel the ice she was giving off. "You sure?"

She forced a smile. "Yeah."

Zack rose and extended his hand for Aerith to follow. She grasped his hand, tentative, unsure, and pulled herself up.

They walked to Aerith's lonely house in darkness. Every dozen yards there would be a dim lamp to light the way, but most of the trip was black for Aerith. Zack, on the other hand, could see perfectly fine with his Mako eyes. Aerith held tightly onto the back of his knit shirt as he paved the way. She felt safe with him. She felt like she could . . .

No, she shouldn't trust him. He worked for Shinra. He might as well be another Tseng.

She startled herself with that thought, but realized it was probably be true. Why would a Shinra SOLDIER suddenly show interested in her? She was nothing special to look at, and she was too shy to be funny. So, why did this man seem to like her?

They stopped walking. Aerith felt a lump growing in her throat. _Had this whole evening been a lie?_ Her face grew hot with grief. She had let herself believe that she was worth something, when all she really was was an outcast. Zack didn't have any feelings for her. And eve if he did like her, how many other girls had he 'liked' in the recent past?

"Well, here we are." Zack murmured reaching behind to touch her shoulder. "Window?"

She turned away, trying with all her might to hold in the tears, and nodded. She barely noticed as Zack gathered her in his arms and scaled the two story building with one arm. After Aerith was safetly in her room, Zack stood on the pane, looking as if he wanted to say more. Then, as if clockwork, his phone vibrated.

He looked longingly one last time at Aerith. She smiled, "See you soon." And kissed him tenderly on the cheek. He touched her face gently before flipping open his phone.

He didn't say a word before closing the phone, only listened to the man on the other line.

"I leave for Modeoheim tomorrow."

"But -" Aerith protested. She needed to talk to him about everything.

"I know, but I promise to stop into the church tomorrow morning." He tried to smile. "Modeoheim isn't that far away. I'll be back before you know it."

"I know, I just -" She tried to say.

"They're expecting me back at Headquarters." Aerith noted the fierce seriousness in his voice. He didn't take his job lightly.

"Okay, just . . . be careful." She said quietly, forgetting he confusion for a moment.

"I'll call you."

And then he was gone. Words could not describe the utter hysteria that was tumbling around in Aerith's mind. She didn't even know where to begin thinking.


	13. For what it's Worth

**I was going to make this chapter be about Zack in Modeoheim (the time when Angeal dies) but decided that it kind of put me in a rut. So this is going to be just another random recon mission and not the pivotal one that happens in the game.**

For the hundreth time she flipped open her phone.

"_I'm heading to Modeoheim right now. I stopped by the church before I left, but you were gone. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye._

_-Zack"_

It was dated three days ago. Tseng had sent her a message the morning of, explaining to her that it wasn't safe to go to the church that day. He said that a batch of experiments had escaped and she was not to leave until they were taken care of. He didn't really explain much, but Aerith was almost looking for a reason not to go anyway. So she stayed inside, telling herself that it was for her own protection.

Not wanting to have to explain Tseng, and then subsequently everything weird about herself, she simply said:

"_Got stuck at home. I'm sorry."_

She had sent the message a few hours after receiving his, and had not received another message since.

She ran her fingers over the letters of Zack's name. Her phone was long and the screen tinted an unpleasant, old yellow, but his name shone a deep, inky black. She had been apart from Zack for longer than she had known him, and yet . . . she _missed_ him.

She, as with all humans, found a way to cope with the absence, and busied herself with work around the slums. The summer heat blazed in the dirty town, and just going outside seemed a job in itself. But she managed to drag herself out of bed each morning, sweat clinging to her neck and face, to take care of things. She mostly stayed in Sector 8 and in the church, but every once in a while she would venture to the other close slums.

Summer rain pounded the plate above her home. She could almost feel the world shaking above her.

It was twilight now, and the world was getting dark. She wondered what gentle rain sounded like, and what it would feel like when it hit her skin. All she had ever heard was the hardest of rains, and even then it just sounded like dull thunder against the metal. It was beautiful when it rained in the slums, but only because all the water that collected on the plate was flushed down to the edges of the circle, creating surrounding walls of water in the slums.

Aerith sighed. You could never get close enough to the beauty though, because the chain link fence the bordered the slums made it impossible. You could leave to get a closer look, but once you were gone there was no way to get back in without a passport or a key and not one person in the sums owned either of those.

She sat on her bed, feeling nostalgic. Her room seemed too small for her. It felt like it was swallowing her up. She fell back onto her bed, too caught up in thought to care about anything. Truthfully, she hadn't been able to sleep well since Zack had left. Always half expecting him to crawl through her window in the middle of the night, or call her or _anything_. But none of those things had happened and she couldn't help feel as though her had forgotten her.

She thought about how meaningless her life had been before Zack. What did she do with her days? How did she even occupy her time? She couldn't remember. The hours dragged by without Zack, and were gone to quick when he was with her. Time hated her.

She thought of the strange men in town who were addicted to drugs. She thought of their arms, riddled with bruises, and there faces empty when the drug wasn't flowing through their tired veins. She had been afraid of them, but now realized that she was just like them. She had become an addict.

She had taken a hit, and enjoyed it so immensely that she disregarded the side effects. She looked past the warnings and now that the drug was gone, she felt empty. She might as well just leave her house right now and go sit under the dilapidated awnings with them. She would fit right in.

Zack, however conflicted towards him she might have felt when he left, was her life. She almost laughed at how much she had taken Tseng's words to heart. Who cared if it he frequented Wall Market? Who cared if he fucked a lot of women? It didn't matter to her anymore. She couldn't believe that she had wanted to punish him for that. It seemed so trivial now that she couldn't even see his face. Just because she was a prude didn't mean that everyone around her had to be.

Suddenly Aerith's phone vibrated. Startled, she grabbed it and flipped it open. It was from Zack.

"_I'm sorry I couldn't write sooner. We are on our way home now. I missed you so much._

_-Zack"_

Her face lit up. Her room didn't seem too small anymore. She wasn't tired. The night air made her feel alive. She quickly wrote back.

"_When can I see you?"_

A few minutes delay.

"_We're flying above Kalm right now. I'll be in Midgar thin the hour. Are you at the church?"_

Her heart accelerated. He wanted to see her.

"_No, come to my house. My mother's home, but she'll want to meet you anyway -_

Aerith thought for a moment, and wondered if she was being too forward. What would her mother think anyway if she told her she met this guy only a few days before and was already inviting him to her room? No, it would probably be best if she didn't know yet. She deleted the message and started over.

Suddenly, she realized that her mother was not home. Tonight was poker night, and her mother had not missed a single night since her small group of friends had started. Vaguely, she remembered her mother saying something about leaving, but Aerith had not cared enough to pay attention.

"_I'm at my house. Use the front door."_

All she got in reply was a simple 'OK'.

She felt as though she needed to clean her house, but realized that her mom kept it clean anyway. Aerith was restless. Zack was coming to her house. She would be able to feel him, a solid entity, next to her again. All she wanted to do was be held by him, pressed close, breathing the same air, hearts beating rhythmically together.

A minute passed. Still no Zack.

Two minutes.

Three.

She was going insane sitting on the couch in her small living room.


	14. Touch Me

**Lil bit of some sexin going on here. Sort of all over the place, but whatever at least I finished it quick. But seriously, if I ever use the word gentle, gently or any other variation of that word, please shoot me.**

**I'm a little bit offended that no one reviewed again last chapter . . . oh well I guess you guys have better things to do than review this piece of shit haha**

It had been a half hour since she had come downstairs. She managed to occupy the time with watering the various plants around the room, flipping through random books – never really managing to read a full page - , and doing other random things. Finally, she sat still.

And wondered what Zack was expecting.

She had tried not to think about it, but Zack had been turned on the last time they saw each other, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't as well. She had felt _something_ and it terrified her. She was fascinated, and yet scared to lose whatever innocence she had left.

Back when she was young and had friends, she remember one of them telling her what sex was. The girl a, pretty wutanese immigrant who had since run off with a wealthy man, had gone into her sisters room at night and found a middle aged man in her room, on top of her sister. She said that she watched as the man flopped around on top of her sister, all while her sister lay unmoving. She was too stunned to say anything, and just ended up running back to her room. In the morning she asked her sister what it was. Her sister explained nothing and simply said that she had to do it. The family needed money.

Aerith, being a child, had no clue what her friend meant by telling her that. As she got older though, she learned exactly what her friend had seen. Her friend's sister had sold her body, like so many other slum girls needed to do to survive. She heard so many stories, in passing, none of which seemed really appealing.

And then there were fairytales that told of princesses in far away towers, rescued by princes and they fall in love and get married and live happily ever after. There was never a word about sex for money or anything like that. Did sex and love really go together? They just seemed so very different to her.

Elmyra had been silent on the subject, but maybe if she had told Aerith about the love she had with her husband Aerith would have a different opinion.

It made Aerith wonder, was Zack expecting her to be like other girls? She just wanted to make Zack happy, but she didn't want to destroy who she was in the process. She wanted the fairytale with him, even if their bodies wanted more.

She sat in the dim light, mulling things over in her head so thoroughly that she didn't even hear the quiet knock on her door. Another knock, this time louder. Aerith turned quickly, her eyes falling on the door. Her heart flew out of her chest. She rushed to the door and wrenched it open, revealing Zack. Overcome with emotion, she fell into his arms.

He bent slightly, resting his head near her shoulder and gathering her into his chest, pressing her as close as he could. She wrapped her arms around his back, her arms reaching towards his shoulders. They stood there for an eternity.

Aerith could feel the dampness in his clothes, she could smell the wilderness on his skin. She held him tighter, her face pressed to his torso. But then he groaned, a slow, pained sound, with brought Aerith back down to earth.

She opened her eyes and could see the hardened blood that covered his body. Fresh blood ran from his temple and down his face. Various shallow scratches covered his long arms.

She retaliated, to Zack's surprise. He let go of her, his hands dropping to his sides.

Aerith opened her mouth, but could not seem to form words. She backed away in horror.

"W-what . . . what happened?"

"What, this?" Zack laughed, forcing him to press a hand to his bruised rib. He winced, but tried to smile through it. "This is nothing."

She brought a hand to her mouth as hot tears sprang into her eyes. It hurt her to seem him in such pain. He looked absolutely terrible, and she could only image what the rest of his body looked like.

His face softened as he reach his hand out towards her. He pulled himself close to her and wrapped his arms around her fragile frame, rocking gently, an involuntary reaction that happened when girls cried around him. "Shhhh, hey I'm okay, see? I'm fine, really. Just a few cuts and bruises. Nothing I can't fix with a few bandaids." This caused her to sob suddenly, as she realized these were just the kinds of the wounds that _could not _be fixed by a bandaid.

"I've already cast cure, so I'm in no danger. I just need a little disinfectant and I'll be fine." Zack continued quickly, kissing the top of her head.

Aerith pulled away, suddenly angry. "Why did ShinRa do this to you! They should have at least treated you! I mean, dropping you off with no medical attention? The nerve! I swear I -"

"Actually . . ." Zack mumbled, "They think I'm at the ShinRa facility hospital right now." He watched Aerith's reaction, continuing before she could say anything, "B-but I hate hospitals anyway and I really needed to see you! Just being around you I feel ten times better!"

"Zack . . ." Aerith said, touching his arm. She was going to reprimand him, but realized she had nothing to say. She was glad that he came, even if it did cost him his health. She kissed him, gently, tenderly, like only a girl could, before leading him upstairs to the bathroom.

Zack, even in the sorry state that he was, couldn't help but glance up her skirt as she ascended the steep staircase. _White lace; how fitting,_ He thought, flicking his eyes towards her panties. His head bumped against the low ceiling with a thud, forcing him to get his head out of the gutter. _Fuck,_ he cursed internally, _Why is every home prejudice against tall people?_

"Watch your head." Aerith said, hinting sarcasm.

"Oh thanks, I will." Zack replied, smirking.

At the top of the stairs Aerith made a left, past her bedroom door and into the bathroom.

The room was ridiculously small, to Zack's dismay. He edged passed Aerith and sat on the edge of the antique, free standing tub, but his legs folded did not even give Aerith enough room to get by, so he slid back into the basin. He propped himself up as if he was taking a bath, but his legs were too long and extended past the edge of the tub on either side of the faucet.

"You look like your in a doll house." Aerith murmered, still solem, eyes on his folded form. She tried to ignore his battered appearance.

"Its not my fault your house was made for trolls." Zack retorted, thinking of the smallest mammal he could.

The edge of the tub touched the sink where Aerith stood. Her arms swayed by her side, almost touching his resting hand with every move. He couldn't help but close the gap and touch her smooth hand. His thumb ran along her palm.

"Ah, here it is." Aerith reached into the cabinet, pulling her hand away from his and getting out a bottle of disinfectant. She couldn't even bear to look at him. She grabbed a washcloth and a roll of gauze.

She watched as Zack easily slithered from the tub, a task that would have taken her fumbling self significantly longer. They left the small bathroom, and suddenly Zack found himself in the middle of Aerith's room again. It looked much different in the light, and he could finally see everything that was in there.

But there wasn't much to see anyway, save a small vanity and a bed. It was beyond plain. Zack smiled though, when he noticed a thick pink ribbon hanging off the side of her mirror.

Aerith motioned for him to sit on her bed. She unscrewed the bottle, and dumped some of the liquid onto the towel.

"This might sting." She warned him, touching a cool hand to his hot shoulder. She pressed the towel to one of the smaller wounds, and waited for his reaction. It didn't come. All she felt was his muscles slightly tense, but it was almost like he didn't notice the pain. She followed the blood to the edge of his shirt but stopped. The cuts on his shoulder all ran onto his chest, but she wouldn't dare ask him to take off his shirt.

He must have noticed her hesitation, because he unbuckled the large belt that rested on his belly, releasing the bottom of his shirt so her could pull it off. He winced as he reached his arms up.

Bruises of every color dotted his cut stomach. Gashes, deep and shallow ran like rivers across his torso. Aerith held her breath as she stared at him. Even marred with lacerations, his body was beautiful. He was lean, and long_. _

He leaned back on her bed, placing his head on her pillow. His hair fanned out around him. His gaze was soft, tired even. His eyes closed. He looked vulnerable.

Aerith continued to clean the cuts on his shoulder and arms, talking softly to Zack as she worked. He was exhausted, she could tell, but he kept himself awake as she tended to him. This was nothing like the meeting Aerith had expected. She had imagined kisses and lips and tongue and groans, although this was a sweet alternative. She enjoyed taking care of him. She felt so protected around him, it was about time he feel protected by her.

"So when do you think your next big mission will be?" Aerith asked quietly.

"mmm there's no way of knowing. Whenever they feel like it really." The arm that Aerith was not touching covered his eyes casually. "But the more the better. I want to make it to First Class before the end of summer."

She leaned over suddenly, pressing her lips to his. He arched into the kiss, moving his hand to the side of her neck and pulling her closer. It was fleeting, but full of emotion. Their lips parted and she went back to work.

"What was that for?" Zack asked, smiling crookedly and bringing his arm back to rest on his forehead.

She didn't answer, only smiled secretly to herself. She was proud of him for having big dreams. No one had aspirations in Midgar, including her. Dreams brought pain, not change. But Zack had a chance at happiness, she could just tell.

She moved onto his stomach, relishing the way his muscles flexed and relaxed under his taunt skin. She loved how it was her touch, and not the harsh alcohol in her other hand that caused his muscles to tighten. She cleaned each wound with care, bandaging every swollen cut with gauze and tape.

They continued to chat about different things. The conversation died off for a while though, as Aerith ran to get tweezers to extract a small piece of glass or metal from of a cut. It felt oddly normal just the two of them enjoying each others company, chatting about useless things. Aerith had so many questions to ask him about the world above and around the slums. He told her about the ocean and beach and promised to bring her one day when he wasn't working. This sprung forth a whole conversations worth of questions from Aerith, who had never even been outside of Midgar.

Zack liked talking to Aerith. He felt like she was genuinely interested in the things that he was telling her. She got excited at the things he said, and she asked a lot of questions, which he answered happily, albeit tiredly.

After pressing the last bandage to his stomach he rolled over, showing his back. It wasn't as bad as his stomach, but still took time to dress. Zack was lulling in and out of sleep as Aerith talked softly to him. He loved the sound of her gentle voice.

She was in the midst of explaining to Zack the different slum social classes when she realized that there were no more cuts to bandage. She had used more than enough gauze, and have even bandaged the small, minor cuts that she wouldn't have even covered if it were herself.

"And then there's my mother and I . . ." She was saying, but trailed off when she realized he wasn't listening anyway. She sat back for a moment, admiring her work, all the while trying not to laugh at how ridiculous he looked on her small bed. Ridiculous, but impossibly peaceful. His lips were barely touching and stray hairs fell across his serene face. His hand was resting limp by his face. She ran her palm along his temple, brushing his thick hair back.

He smiled into her pillow, stirring slightly. He groaned - the sleepy, sighing type that everyone does upon awakening – and yawned. He stretched as minimally as he could, turning onto his side to face her. His back pressed into the wall. Looking at his eyes, they were half-lidded and sleepy. He looked like a child just waking from a nap as he lazily rubbed his eyes.

"Come here." He said, a sleepy grin on his lips. He extended a hand, and after she grasped his fingers, pulled her onto the bed. Zack wrapped his arms around her, pressing his forehead to hers.

"Thank you for all you've done."

"It's nothing" She whispered.

He kissed her cheek tenderly.

His lips, warm and inviting, drew her in. She hesitated, relishing the moment that she was in. This was real. Zack was real. She met her lips to his and gave herself to him. He was painfully gentle with his lips on hers, even more so than their first kiss. She melted into him, meeting every sleepy embrace with a small kiss of her own. He draped and arm over her bent thigh, his fingers claiming the smooth skin.

His tongue ran along the inside of her mouth. She sucked gently, and tentatively began using her own tongue to run against his. She arched into him, her hands finding there way to his jaw. He had pushed her dress up far enough for him to graze his fingertips across her ass. He could feel her inhale sharply as his rough hands wandered across the back of her underwear. He pulled his hands away.

"No . . . don't stop." She murmured into his cheek. Edging even closer to his chest, she bent and kissed his collarbone, letting her tongue drag along the freckled skin. The night was silent and dark, the only light coming from a bright street lamp outside her room. It emitted a greenish-blue, unnatural light, making the two seem otherworldly. Aerith traced the blue light on Zack's shoulders and shivered as his hand trailed up her spine.

"This is so weird." Aerith whispered absently. "We barely know each other, and yet I feel as though when you leave tonight my world may fall apart."

"Then I'll never leave." He said simply, taking her mouth in his. His fingers edged under the waistband of her panties, and he felt her bare ass on his palm. She was amazing, without even trying. Her skin was smooth and tight and wonderful.

She moaned softly as he brought a hand to her clothed breast. She wasn't wearing a bra, he could tell by the way it moved in his hand. He felt her small nipple with his thumb, and she hid her face in his shoulder, unable to stifle her mewling. Wanting to hear more of her sounds, he dipped his other hand lower in her underwear and felt her wet sex. She moaned and rocked into his finger, wanting more than anything to feel him inside her.

Zack eased his finger into her, arching the tip as he withdrew, slowly, painstakingly. She had brought her face up to meet his. Her brows were furrowed, eyes closed, her lips parting in the most seductive of ways; the portrait of pleasure. Her moans were soft, barely audible other than the last chord. His eyes studied her face as her built up a rhythm with his finger. She whimpered into his cheek when his thumb ran against her clit.

His long finger slid in and out of her, slick with her wetness. She lifted her leg, unable to control herself, so that her knee rested on his hip, and rocked into him.

The sounds that were coming from Aerith's mouth were sending Zack into a haze. The type of woman Zack had always been attracted to were older, with massive breasts and wanton screams. They writhed below him, groaning loudly and gyrating their hips. But the girl in front of him, Aerith, she was so vastly different. She was quiet, her moans more of an heavy breath than anything else, taking her time as she rolled her hips into him. She wasn't trying to impress him with her actions, she just let her body naturally react, and that turned him on _so fucking much_.

The humid summer air fell on them like a wool blanket. Aerith had been right, the situation did seem surreal. He was in the slums, fingering a virgin he had met less than a week before. But he felt consumed by this near stranger. The feeling that she gave him was indescribable; touching her was like touching a lightning storm. It felt dangerous and exciting, like some force of nature ready to destroy him, but also somehow soft, and gentle. She made Zack feel like a living person and not the monster that people claimed he was.

Her hand clung to his arm. She could feel the rigid muscles in his upper arm clench and retract every time he moved inside of her.

"Ah! Zack!" She whispered frantically, her eyes squeezing shut.

He never imagined that he could feel so good by making someone else feel good. Sex was all about how you felt, and not at all what the other person was feeling. You did what you could to get the most out of the act. That is, unless you were getting paid. Then you did everything for money and it was no longer about how you feel. Actually, to Zack at least, most of his 'working days' he felt nothing really at all. He was a machine going through mundane tasks. He didn't even have to try.

But he _wanted_ her too feel good. More than anything in the world he wanted her to feel good.

She was clinging onto him, pushing herself into his arms.

But did he deserve someone like her?

Aerith's head was swimming. Her body was moving on its own. She bit her lip.

Would he just be bad for her?

He could feel her climax, shivers rocking through her as she uttered one last, desperate sigh, and fell into him. Zack remained silent as Aerith reached her solitary ecstasy, watching her, intently, as if waiting for her to speak. Her breathing was labored as she came back down to earth.

Reality became a factor again as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just done.


	15. Truth

The room was silent and still.

The ecstasy that Aerith had so powerfully felt only moments before was replace with another emotion. She felt . . . dirty. Embarassed. Guilty. How was she any different than the whores on Wall Market? Nothing separated her from them. Zack pulled his wet fingers out of her and caught a glimpse of her conflicted expression before she turned away to face her vanity. It was then that her eyes fell on the photo that Tseng has brought to her house. She had near forgotten the visit in the heat of the moment, and now that life was back to normal she couldn't help but feel an immense weight fall back onto her.

"Hey . . ." Zack touched her shoulder, "Did I do something wrong?"

Aerith pulled her legs to her chest, burying her face into her knees. " . . . No." came her hesitant and muffled reply.

Zack felt his heart sink. He thought she had wanted him to touch her. No – she had told him to keep going he remembered. Why was she acting so sad and angry? Zack started to feel defensive. He didn't do anything wrong.

Suddenly she was on her feet, pulling her underwear up. Zack watched as she rubbed her eyes, eventually cupping her face into her hands. She rubbed her temples and bit her lip. She began to slowly pace.

Zack watched her, unsure, for the first time in a while, of what to do. He straightened and edged to the end of the bed, reaching his arms out to her. "Aerith I'm sorry I . . . I thought you wanted this."

"I don't know what I want." she replied quietly, still holding her face in her hands. Zack reached for her, but she brushed him off.

"Aerith . . ."

"Stop acting like you care about me!" She yelled suddenly, spinning towards him. Zack retracted, totally caught off guard by her outburst.

"What are you talking about?" He cried, rising from the small bed with a wince. "There's never a moment when I'm not thinking about you! How can you even say that?"

Aerith was silent. She didn't want to talk about what Tseng had said; She didn't want to believe it, but there was no way she could just brush this off. She hesitated, before slowly crossing her arms over her chest. She looked down, her long hair hiding her face.

"I feel like . . . I just feel like our playing with me sometimes. Like – I don't know – like I'm just some girl. That was okay with me before . . . at least that's what I told myself . . . but I can't let this go on anymore. I . . . I care about you too much and I'm just going to get hurt." She sighed, shakily, before running a hand through her hair.

She had been choosing to ignore all of the bad things, only focussing on the goodness that was Zack. She had been so uncharacteristically clouded by lust and loneliness that she refused to see any of the red flags. She only wanted to hear his voice, and feel him next to her, and now that she was satiated, her mind felt empty again.

"I know about . . ." Aerith stopped herself before continuing. Once she told Zack that she knew, there was no going back. She would eventually have to tell him about her past, and she was not ready for that. She held her toungue, choosing not to mention Tsengn or Wall Market.

"You know about what . . ." Zack started slowly, his heart rate accelerating. _Oh god, who told her?_ He didn't want to hurt her with his past.

Aerith took a deep breath. This wasn't the right time. She didn't want to know. "Nothing."

He moved to her, touching her hand softly with his own. He looked into her face, his expression sincere, his eyes begging her to understand. They both knew what she was talking about, even if Aerith only had a brief glimpse.

"You will never be just some girl to me." Zack looked down at his hand on hers and ran his thumb along the smooth of her fingers. "I don't know what you heard but . . ." He let her hand slide from his, his head still down. "I do have a past that I'm not proud of. There are so many things in my life that I wish I could change, but your one of the things in my life that actually feels right."

Aerith touched his face, and he pressed his cheek into her palm. He was so tall, so strong, so powerful, and she almost hated herself for how easily she trusted and felt protected by him. His explaination made her fears melt away. She immediately forgave him for whatever he did or did not do. She just wanted him, no matter who he really was. She didn't care.

"I was taught at a young age that sex wasn't an expression of love, it was a cure for boredom. Kids from my hometown didn't respect themselves, because they didn't care. You had sex to reproduce and to ease boredom. That was it. There was no love. So when I came to Midgar, I mindlessly fucked any girl who had the same mindset as me. I never wanted anything more than that, because I didn't know that there _was_ anything more. But then . . ." He smiled, ever so slightly "then I met you, and you were so different."

"Why? Because I'm a virgin prude? Because no guy has ever wanted me like that?" Aerith whispered, almost defensively. It made her uncomfortable to shed light on just how different she was from Zack experience wise. She had never seen even seen a nude man before, while Zack had slept with, as far as she knew, countless women.

"God, Aerith, are you so naïve? Every guy you've ever passed by has thought about . . . you know, but you have too much respect for yourself to show interest. You are so much more than you give yourself credit for. And -" He stopped short. _And I love you oh god I love you so much._

Aerith, with her head so close to his chest could feel his heartbeat increase. He put his big hands on her shoulders, pushing her away slightly so that he could look her square in the eye. _I love you_. "Aerith . . ." _I love you_. "I just want you to know that . . ."_ I love you_. "That I'll never let anything hurt you, and . . ." _and I love you_ "and would do anything for you."

She was once again filled with want for this man. Her future flashed before her; marriage, children, old age – she could see herself going through these with Zack by her side. She could forget whatever transgressions he had done, if only she could have him. He was so perfect. She didn't care that she had only known him for a short time. There was something special about him. He represented all that scared her in this world; SOLDIER, ShinRa, fighting, and yet he made her feel so at ease. She could not imagine a world without him.

"I love you, Zack."

He was motionless for a few seconds, save a small smile creeping onto his lips. Suddenly Aerith was off the ground and in his arms. He was holding her close, too excited to even reply. Lifting her close to his face, he kissed her, short and exhuberant before pulling away, a smile still worn proudly on his face. "I love you too. Oh god, do I love you."

Aerith laughed softly, "You do?"

"So much." He replied, the smile slowly falling from his face. He looked at her lips and then back to her eyes before leaning in slowly to kiss her, his hands cradling her face. They stayed in an embrace for what seemed like forever, before finally breaking apart. Zack kept his hands in her hair touching his wet lips to the crown of her head.

"You saved me, Aerith"

She laughed and placed a hand to his ridiculously over bandaged waist, brushing off his comment. "After casting casting cure I don't think you were in any real danger.

Zack chuckled, "Yeah, probably not, but how do you say no to someone who so desperately wants to run thier hands all over your body?"

Aerith smirked, jabbing a finger into his abs. "Sorry, I can't help myself."

They kissed again, both of their mouths curved into smiles, both of them perfectly content. They stood entwined in the dark room, the solitary street light barely illuminating their bodies. Aerith's window was open, and a rare breeze slowly made its way into her room. The room was silent, save for their breathing.

"You know what I mean, right?" He murmered into her hair, "I was so lost before you."

She pressed her face into his warm, bare chest, savoring the scent of him. She nodded, bringing a hand up to rest next to her face. She closed her eyes, nuzzling into him. She hadn't realized it before, but she was exhausted.

Zack ran his hand through her hair, gently turning her face up with a finger to her chin. "Are you tired?"

"Mmm . . ." Came her muffled reply, her eyes still closed. Without hesitation he lifted her up, cradling her in his arms like a baby. Before she could even react, she was already laying in her bed. Zack was crouching near her face, tucking the blanket around her. "Do you want me to go?" He asked.

"No, please don't leave." She replied, almost wondering if he had asked just to watch her beg. She lifted the blanket to make room for him and watched as he lithely crawled over her body, barely touching her. He was laughing softly as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chest pressing to her back, his forehead resting against the back of her head. He was smiling wildly.

"I've never slept with anyone before. Like, actually slept and stayed the whole night. Its really nice having someone to hold onto."

Aerith turned to face him, smiling as she pecked his lips. "I think so too."

He returned her kiss with one of his own; A drawn out, open mouth kiss, that left both of them wanting more, but neither of them wanting to initiate.

"Aerith?" He asked finally, breaking the stillness.

"Yeah?"

"About before . . . in your bed" He started, "You were so upset. If I hurt you . . ."

"Hurt me?" She reiterated, her face turning pink. "Did I . . . did I sound like it hurt?" She brushed her hair behind her ear and averted her gaze.

Zack smirked. "Not at all. Actually you seemed like you really enjoyed it."

She buried her face in his chest. "Stop, that's so embarassing!" She whispered meekly.

"Hey don't be embarassed! We're a couple now, that stuff is't supposed to bother us." Zack brushed his hand through her hair, taking time to run his thumb along the cuff of her ear. He leaned in closer to her. "Besides, just looking at you turned me on so fucking much."

"Zack!" She cried, hitting him softly in the arm.

"What?" He asked in retaliation, feigning surprise, "You were _really_ into it, I couldn't help it. The way you just lost it was so sexy – OW!" He laughed, catching her small fist in his hand.

"At least I didn't get a boner when we were kissing at the church!" She retorted smugly.

"God, I would hope not!" Came his smart reply. She rolled her eyes, turning back around with a groan. Zack draped an arm around her waist, the other snugly under her neck. He was still so fulll of energy, but also so content with laying next to Aerith, watching her drift off into sleep.

"Aerith?"

"Mhm?"

"I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too."


	16. GO

**Sorry this chapters short, but my computers freaking out so I can only type for a little while before it starts lagging. Thank you guys so much for the reviews! They got me writing this again! Thank youuuu**

Zack blinked.

Aerith had her hands pressed to his chest, her hips grating against his groin. Her head was thrown back in an act of pleasure, eyes tightly closed as she gyrated against him. She was moaning wantonly as she moved against him, and Zack had no time to question it. He reacted, moving his hand to her breast, his hips matching the rhythm of hers. He wasn't about to complain about a beautiful girl on top of him.

"Is this what you – ah – want" He choked out between breaths. "With me?"

Aerith slowed, turning her head downward to meet his gaze. He noticed that her usually dark hair had unnatural blond streaks in it, her eyes framed by dusty makeup, lashes dark and clumped. She smiled, ever so slightly, before replying. "You ruined me, Zack."

His mouth fell open. "What?"

She stuck her bottom lip out, as if pouting. "I could have had a happy life," She ran a light hand over his chest, "But . . . you ripped that from me when you tricked me into falling in love with you."

She pressed harder into his pecks, "Now I'm trapped with a monster."

Her nails dug into his skin, but Zack was too stunned to even notice. "I did this to you?"

She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and continued to run a red line across him. Her plump lips were the same color as his blood. "I just wanted to impress you, and keep you happy But . . ." She turned away, letting her voice dissolve into the surreal atmosphere.

"But what? What happened?"

She spun back, her expression severe, "I gave you everything I had. I _loved _you." She spat, "and you forgot about me."

"No." he agrued, "No! I would never leave you!"

"But Zack," She started, her eyes shrouded by damp lashes, her voice meloncholy. "You are SOLDIER . . . It is your destiny to leave those you love."

He knew that she was right. He knew it, in his heart and soul he knew this from the beginning. There was such a huge chance that he would perish, why would he think that dragging someone else into it would do any good. How could he do this to her. He loved her.

"Zack?" The room began to blur around him. "Zack, are you awake?"

He opened his eyes, squinting at the bright of her room. "huh? Aerith?"

Aerith was hurriedly moving around her room. A hair elastic rested between her teeth as she grabbed her thick mane into a ponytail, hopping on one foot to try to put on her shoe.

"Whats going on?" He asked, his body tense. "Is everything okay?" He was on his feet before she noticed, his shirt already halfway on his body.

"My mother is home!" She whispered fiercely, "I already had to fight her off once and shes bound to come barreling in ay any moment. Please, you have to go!" Aerith was already pushing him towards the window before she even finished her sentence, her hands grabbing into his collar to throw him out.

"Why didn't I wake up earlier?" Zack asked, genuinely concerned. "I shouldn't have even fallen asleep to begin with."

"I don't know, but I nearly suffocated with your heavy arm on me all night. I almost passed out trying to wrench it off me! No just go! Go go go go!" She was trying to shove him out, but he was too deep in thought to even pretend to be nudged by her.

"No this is serious. I should have been awake the second I sensed movement . . ."

"I dont know, you were tired! Just – you have to go!" Aerith was desparely trying to get him outside so that she could close her window, but he refused to go at anything but his own pace. The second he passed the threshhold she wrenched the window closed.

He pressed his face to the glass, looking pathetic as she motion out her window to the left. 'Garden' she mouthed, 'be there in' she finished, holding up all ten fingers.

Aerith turned around, not even taking a moment to collect her thoughts before kicking the gauze and disinfectant from the night before under her unkempt bed, noticing the blood that stained her sheets. She quickly threw the blanket up, halfway making the bed before turning just in time to come face to face with her opening door.

"Mother?" Aerith asked, trying to force her way out of her room before her mom could enter.

"Oh sweetie your all ready," Elmyra started, meeting Aerith at the door, "I'm sorry about coming in so late last night. We got to talking and . . . well you know how it goes."

"That's great mom. Umm, I have to go though." She replied, hurredly making her way past her mom and into the hallway. "I'm meeting a friend."

"A friend?" Elmyra questioned, turning a concered eye on her daughter.

"Yeah, I'll be back later. Love you, see you."


End file.
